We gave an account and photograph of it in our Cordyceps of Australasia, page 5, figure 616. In a fine collection recently received of this Cordyceps, we noticed two clubs that were infected by some parasitic, fungal species. This is a section of mycology about which we know little, but we were curious to know its nature and examined "au microscope." It is strange, but we found it to have exactly the same spores as the Cordyceps has, and would be classed in the same section as Cordyceps, viz., the genus Ophionectria, at least according to key characters, although the perithecia are not "bright-colored."

For convenience in our museum we have labelled it Ophionectria Cordyceps.

Mr. Seaver, to whom we sent a portion of a specimen, suggests the possibility of the Cordyceps having produced a second crop of perithecia on an old fruiting club. We hardly think this is an explanation for the second layer of perithecia are only produced where the club is diseased, and the greater part of each infected Cordyceps club is not diseased and has normal perithecia.

We present a photograph of a portion of the Cordyceps club (enlarged) bearing the Ophionectria. This parasite seems to abort

the perithecia of the Cordyceps and produces its own perithecia which have the same spores. In fact, it is a kind of a vegetable cuckoo.

A parasite growing on another parasite illustrates the old rhyme:
"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum,
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still and greater still, and so on."
De Morgan: A Budget of Paradoxes.

OPHIONECTRIA “CORDYCEPS” Lloyd, Myc. Writ 5:692, fig. 1035. 1917.

Lloyd reported a parasite on the stromata of a collection of Cordyceps robertsii from Napier, New Zealand from H. Hill (LH37145) and stated that “For convenience in our Museum we have labeled it Ophionectria Cordyceps”. He gave a photograph of a portion of a parasitized stroma but no description. In studying other collections of C. robertsii in the National Fungus Collections at Washington, another specimen from Te Awamuta, New Zealand, collected by G. L. Miller (ex. Mo. Bot. Gard. Herb.) was found to be parasitized by the same fungus. Since it was not validly published by Lloyd, it is described here as a new species.

Ophionectria lloydii sp. nov. (Fig. 5)

Stromatibus planis, tenuibus, minutis coalescentibus, albis vel flavidis; peritheciis ovoideis, 550—950 x300—450 µ superficialibus, cespitosis, pallide flavo-brubbeis; ascis cylindriceis, 350-450 x 6-10 µ; ascosporis filiformibus, 300 x 3 µ, multiseptatis, hyalinis, cellis 8-16 µ longis.

Stromata flat, thin, small, coalescing to form irregular plates, often obscured by the perithecia, white or yellowish; perithecia ovoid, 550—950 x 300-450 µ superficial, cespitose, pale yellowish brown, the wall up to 90 µ thick, pseudoparenchymatous; asci cylindric, 350—450 x 6—10 µ, with a 4 µ thick cap; ascospores filiform, up to 300 µ long, 3 µ thick, multiseptate, with the cells 8—16 µ long, hyaline.

On stromata of Cordyceps robertsii, Napier, New Zealand, H. Hill, LH42580, type (also Cordyceps robertsii LH37145); Te Awamuta, New Zealand, G.L.Miller, (BPI).

The stromata of the Ophionectria. are formed on the stipes and over the perithecia. of the Cordyceps The mycelia often fill the perithecia of the Cordyceps and emerge through the ostioles. The small thin stromata of the Ophionectria frequently coalesce to form irregular plates, fig. 5, but soon are obscured by the development of clusters of large perithecia.