260 
sect,encompasses the various organs, finally absorbing the juices and 
filling up the body with a solid mass of the ® Zz 
fungus. The mycelium does not, however, 3 
enter the trachew or the alimentary tract. 
Cutting a larva in two at this stage of the 
growth of the fungus, the interior will be 
found sufficiently firm not to collapse, with | 
a hole at the center larger than would be 
made by a pin, and no juices to escape. A 
This is not true for all cases, however, for Fig. 8.-Mycelium from 
frequently mortification due to a bacillus oe eg 50: ioe inate 
sets in and changes all the organs into a Original. 
slate colored liquid, at the same time checking the growth of the 
fungus. The advent of the bacillus and the changes due to 1t may 
be dismissed as accidental. 
Before the body is filled with mycelium the rhizoids or holdfasts 
have already been pushed out from the ventral surface of the body. 
These consist of branches from the mycelium, which flatten their 
ends firmly against the object on which the insect rests ; they may 
grow a sixteenth of an inch in length if the supporting object is not 
reached sooner. 
After a time great numbers of mycelial branches place themselves 
closely side by side, penetrate the skin of the larva, and form a solid 
layer, or hymenium, about the whole insect except its head. The 
projecting ends of the threads give the velvetry gray appearance to 
the surface at this stage. On the end of each branch is now formed 
a single oblong spore; some of the branches, however, are enlarged 
and sterile. The development of the sterile and fruiting branches 
and of the spores is shown in figure 9. 

The spores are oblong, rounded at both ends, one-celled, with thin — 
walls and colorless, granular contents, and are comparatively large.* | 
This is their ap- 
pearance when 
© fresh (fig. 10 M); 
spores from,a dry 
specimen five 
months old, mount- 
ed in water for ex- 
amination, present- 
ed a clear spot at 
the center, and had 
one end somewhat 
pointed (fig. 10 N). 
Fic. 9-Ent, Phytonomi: A fertile thread with it The spores, germs 
ig. 9.—Ent. Phytonomi: ertile thread with its . e 
branches and spores, abe A successive stages in oe de- nate in water by 
velopment of the spore 5 two young fertile threads ; 7 
T ends of sterile threads. Magnified 430 diameters. pushing out eke ue 
Original. several vegetative 
threads (fig: 10 A), which grow tortuously to many times the length 


ON NR ee ee 
*The technical description of this fungus with measurements appears in the 
Bot. Gazette for January, 1886. 

