Fungus on Insects.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 28

Fungus on Insects.

Fungi not only attacks living and decaying .vegetable matter, but also living animals, and especially insects. In New Zealand the caterpillar of the moth buries itself in the ground to undergo its metamorphosis, where it is attacked by a fungus, which rises in the form of a simple spike about six inches in height, from the head of the caterpillar, the body of which becomes a dry mummy; a second species is found in Tasmania, but it differs from the preceding in being branched ; and a third specie 3 is fonnd growing on caterpillars in a similar manner in China, and is held in high estimation as a medicine, said to possess the properties of ginseng. Another species has lately been discovered in Ceylon growing on a white grub; it rises two to three inches above the ground ; its upper part, which contains the spore-cases, is thickened and of a red colour. It is said to be a new species of the genus Torrubia. In the West Indies wasps are affected with a species of sphseria, which grows on the head like two horns : the spores impregnate them when alive, and the fungus grows to a considerable .size before the wasp dies. It is generally understood that fungi do not grow in water, but it is, nevertheless, now considered that the flocky matter that grows on and destroys, gold-n'&h and s-almon is a fungus. Within the last twenty years great loss has been sustained by the silk cultivators of Europe, consequent on the silkworm being attacked by a microscopic mould fungus, allied to the salmon fungus. The thready mycelium covers and perforates Hie body of the caterpillar, which becomes mummified. This diseise has become endemic to the silk-producing_ countries of Europe, which has rendered it necessary to procure fresh eggs annually from Japan and other countries not yet affected by the disease. In the autumn the common house-fly may be seen dead and adhering to the window-pane, the glass surrounding the body being dim ; on examining the fly with a lens it will be found to be involved with white flocky matter, the mycelium of a mould fungus, the gdrm spores of which had been taken up by the fly in some kind of food. It is said that a blue-bottle fly might carry about "sufficient fever spores to infect a parish."