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Show Beetles That Grow MUSHROOMS fe FRENCH cutyrnologlsls have recently discovered dis-covered that there are certain beetles or the wood-boring varieties that do not get their food Troiii the wood itself, or Trom any tiny insects that may be in the wood, but from a sort of mushroom that grows in the holes they have '.orsd. Mushroom-growing ants have been known Tor quite a while, but that the wood-boring beetles also bored into wood rolely to grow these fungii, or mushrooms, was not known. "When we examine the walls and cavities,' says Henri Coupin, writing or the cntyniolo-gist cntyniolo-gist ,L Uouvcrie's studies of this beetle, "uiudu by these Insects of the group of Hu-strychides Hu-strychides In the wood of our trees wo find a sort of white crust,. which appeared to lhe earliest observer to be only a salty excretion. Mart is recognized that this crust was :n reality formed by a fungus, and that its presence was responsible for the change in the color of tho walls to brown. "This fungus tbore are in reality several species, which Mr. Bouvcrie has studied is These Tiny Brellcs Bcre Into the "reeB p.nd Pla..t Mici'occopic Funics autirooma .Upon .Which the Larvae l-'ecd not a simple mold, which would be useless ofS?1 1 even harmful lo the Insect. It is in realitjjjtth & very useful in forming a healthful and nhnn- uant food for the larvae, which is proved byM je the fact that the latter develop bettor whep,, It is more abundant. This is also explained, rs. by the fact that the filaments of the fungus end on the gallery side I il globules, rich intyo glycogen and oil. Further, tho fungi of the, ;taividi galleries bored by the Dostrychidcs serve io some sort as drains to draw off the nitrch, ftrtanin genous matters in the wood and place thein at the disposal of the larvae. These conrie ditions are so well adapted to the funguf that tho tissue formed by it constitutes liters ton ally a pure culture. tJtty.g "Tho first spores of the fungus seem lo ha brought in by the adult insects. ""iis sowing of fhe seed is evidently involuntary on their ,utIo part; but both insect and fungus mako tlifl feetuj best of their association, for the fungus find iJhe itself located, by the act of the insect, in a gjthea. very favorable medium, and. on tho othe fs baud, the Insect finds in it a food sufficiently jgty ' tender for its feeble jaws." ft AuV . : . - &h m ! |