The bat die-off continued the following winter, spreading to five more states. It continued the winter after that, in three additional states, and, although in many places there are hardly any bats left to kill off, it continues to this day. The white powder is now known to be a cold-loving fungus—what’s known as a psychrophile—that was accidentally imported to the U.S., probably from Europe. When it was first isolated, the fungus, from the genus Geomyces, had no name. For its effect on the bats it was dubbed Geomyces destructans
