F. Muir.
A Symbiotic Organism in Fulgorids.
Psyche 28(2):59-60, 1921.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1921/84706
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19211 Muir-A Symbiotic Organism in Fulgorids 59 (E. erosa Loew), pleura whitish pruinose, scutellum and abdomen dark brown, the fourth and fifth segments blackish. Halteres white. Legs light brown. Wings grayish hyaline with the ti2 ' beyond the outer cross-band whitish, the inner edge of this band poorly defined, the middle band extending from the costa (between the ends of the first and second veins), across the posterior cross- vein to the tip of the 'fifth vein, the inner band extending from the end of the auxiliary across the base of the discal cell to the tip of the anal vein, base of the wing yellow. Length 5 mm. One specimen, collected by Mr. S. M. Dohanian, at Kelley Field, near San Antonio, Texas, April 27, 1918. Stegana barretti sp. nov.
f ernale. Face whitish, cheeks brown, shining, front .brownish black, opaque, antennae brown.
Thorax, scutellum and abdomen
bluish black, shining, sparsely covered with fine black hairs, humeri and a large spot on the pleura below the base of the wing, snow white. Femora and tibiae black, tarsi yellow. Halteres yellow. Wings hyaline, with a slight yellow tinge. Length 3.5 mm.
Collected at Amecameca, Mexico, Sept., 1900, by Mr. 0. W. Barrett.
A
Hawaiian
SYMBIOTIC ORGANISM IN FULGORIDS.
BY 3'. MUIR,
Sugar Planters' Experiment Station, Honolulu, T. H. When working on the natural enemies of the delphacid, Perkin- siella saccharicida, in Australia, in the latter part of 1919, I found that about eighty per cent of the eggs of this insect in the field were destroyed, and a fungus always present. At first I took the fungus to be the cause of the destruction of the eggs, but upon further investigation, I found that this was not so, and that these eggs were all punctured and their contents sucked up by a Mirid, Cyrtorhiiws mundulus (Bred.).
Further observations revealed the fact that the young, adults Pncht 28:5'1-60 (102 1). hup Ytpsycht einclub or$t28/28-059 html



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6 0 Psyche [April
and eggs of all Delphacidse contained yeast-like cells very similar .
to the cells described by Speare in cutworms.* In the adult female PerJcinsiella these organisms clustered around certain parts of the ovarian tubes and evidently penetrated the walls and entered the eggs where they could always be found congregated in a round mass at the posterior end of the egg. They appear to' be held together by a viscid substance, for under a little pressure they flatten out and return to a sphere when the pressure is released. With greater pressure the ball bursts and the cells are dispersed. After the eggs are laid, this mass becomes reddish, due to minute red bodies; during development it works up to the anterior end of the egg and breaks up. Most of the cells appear to be thrown out of the embryo and lie under the egg cap, but a number remain within the embryo and multiply by end-building. After the youiig leave the egg-shell, the cells remaining within the shell germinate, develop hyphse, and, if the conditions be favorable, fructify in a similar manner to Sorosporella uvella described by Speare. All the species of Delphacidse that I examined in Australia con- tained this organism but in no species of Ciccadellidse could I find any. All species of Hawaiian Delphacidse so far examined con- tain them, and also Siphanta acuta, an introduced Australian fulgorid.
It appears .that this organism is' in no way inimical to its host. Perhaps it Is beneficial, helping it to digest the starches and sugars which form a large percentage of its food. This note is published in the hope that some student of mycology will make further investigations, work out the life history and identify the fungus.
* Jour. Agri. Research XVIII. 8, 1920, pp. 399-440.



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