56 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



their history : u The Franciscan friar has treated his subject extremely well, and 

 as a man of letters ; but yet he is not quite divested of some vulgar errors. I 

 remark this the rather, as the characters are necessary to be noted when extra- 

 ordinary phenomena are to be set forth." So it would appear, that if the good 

 father accuses the natives of holding vulgar errors, so also he is himself accused 

 of the same by the librarian of the Royal College of Physicians. 



Edwards was an ardent, though unscientific naturalist ; he had, as Swainson 

 observes, the simplicity and piety of Izaac Walton, and may be looked upon as one 

 of our greatest worthies. He was one of Linneus's many correspondents, and was 

 accustomed to send him proof impressions of his plates of rare animals, according 

 as they were printed. On the occasion of his forwarding to Upsal the plate re- 

 cently mentioned, Linneus wrote the following letter, which it may not be amiss 

 to quote: " I have received your new plates, all excellently delineated and co- 

 loured, according to your usual manner. But what chiefly induces me to write is, 

 your table 336, in which you represent some ' vegetating wasps,' and which appear 

 to be Vespae ; provided they have four wings a circumstance I wish to be informed 

 of. My thoughts are so taken up with these productions that I cannot sleep 

 without dreaming of them. I conjure you to write to me the first day you can 

 spare, to explain this phenomenon. What is the shrub, or branch of a shrub, 

 which grows out of the back or breast of the insect ? Is it a small branch of a 

 rose? What connection is there between them? Is the branch of the plant 

 grafted upon the insect so as to grow out of it? You are very cruel if you do not 

 speedily relieve me from this puzzle. I never saw anything in nature like this 

 production. If, indeed, the wasp merely cuts off the tip of a branch to build its 

 nest with, the mystery is solved; otherwise it is altogether wonderful. Whence 

 did you procure this wasp ? Is there no deceit in the specimen ?" It is to be 

 hoped that the curiosity of the great Swede was fully satisfied on these points. 

 Unhappily, this letter is the last that is on record as having passed between them. 



It may be remarked that Edwards figures the wasps flying, though their original 

 discoverer found them dead on the field ; and this it was, perhaps, that gave 

 Linneus the curious idea that they might have taken the tips of branches to build 

 their nests. Some other wasps were found in the Island of Dominica, which 

 buried themselves in May, and began to vegetate towards the end of July or, 

 rather, they were found so about that time. When the tree had arrived at its full 

 growth, it resembled a coral branch, about three inches high, bearing several little 

 pods, which were supposed by the inhabitants to " drop off and become worms, and 

 thence flies.'' This plant is supposed to be a species of Clavaria, similar to the one 

 which is sometimes found on dead horses' hoofs. An interesting account has been 

 given by a gentleman who, while botanizing in America, found lying on the ground 

 a wasp's nest, which had, by some means unknown to him, been separated from a 

 branch of a laurel, near which it had fallen. The creatures were in a strange 

 condition after this disaster to their dwelling; some were flitting about over their 

 cells, and by the softness of their wings, and the faintness of their colours, were 

 easily known to have been hatched but a short time. Many of them were lying 

 dead on the ground ; and on examining these he instantly perceived vegetables pro- 

 ceeding from their bodies, which were uniformly attached to the thorax. He 

 collected about fifty of these vegetating wasps. On inspecting the nest he found a 

 considerable proportion of the cells empty. This, however, was not the case with 

 them all, for there were still some that contained young wasps in the state of larvae. He 

 drew them from their cells, and satisfied himself that there was an incipient vege- 

 tation ; and, moreover, that its progress had kept pace with the growth of the 

 insect. In some instances the vegetation is considered to commence only when 

 life has ceased ; and in confirmation of this view it is related that in Trinidad, a 

 wasp was found, apparently in a perfect condition, glued somehow by one of its 

 wings to the leaf of a tree ; from all parts of its body issued filaments, from one to 

 three inches long, shining black, and resembling the plant called " Spanish beard." 



HEMIPTERA. 



We also find fungi attacking the Cicadae ; and Mr. Edwards figures one, with a 

 fungus growing out of its head, which was brought from Dominica, a neutral 



