PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 57 



island in the West Indies ; many of them were found together buried in the earth, 

 having each the like fungus shooting from their heads. Edwards supposes that the 

 moisture of the earth caused these fungi to sprout. A parcel of these insects were 

 sent to Isaac Mathew, Esq. (A.D. 1760), who gave him a sample of them, and 

 thinks that the fungus dries and falls off before the Cicada arrives at its perfect 

 state. Messrs. Kirby and Spence mention having one of this genus in their 

 cabinet, " with a kind of Sphasria, with twisted thickish stipes, and oblong head, 

 springing up in the space between the eyes." Dr. Hill says, in speaking of the 

 Cicada u This, you may be assured, is the fact, and all the fact ; though the 

 untaught inhabitants suppose a fly to vegetate, and though there exists a Spanish 

 drawing of the plants growing into a perfoliate tree, and it has been figured with 

 this creature flying with the tree upon its back 



" So wild are the imaginations of man ; 

 So chaste and uniform is nature." 



At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London, Mr. Westwood exhibited 

 two specimens of Euglossa (family Aphidsej, and from the basal portion of the 

 abdomen of each of these an elongated process had been produced, which was 

 bent backwards, and rested on the dorsum of the abdomen. In one of the speci- 

 mens the appendage was divided at the extremity into two branches ; in the other 

 it was dilated into two uniform lobes. There can be little doubt but that these 

 are vegetable productions in various stages of development. Mr. Westwood also 

 exhibited a specimen of Acanthocephalus (family Coreidse), from the scutellum of 

 which a great number of filamentous fungi had been produced, each being as long 

 as the entire body. These insects were from the collection of the Rev. F. Hope. 



DIPTERA. 



In the diptera, fungoid growth appears to be rare, though we find it common in 

 the house-fly. I suppose there are few that have paid any attention to the matter 

 that have not observed flies stuck pretty firmly against the glass on our windows, 

 or on the ceiling, and surrounded by a quantity of matter that, at first sight, appears 

 like grease. This Kirby and Spence thought to be an animal exudation, and the re- 

 sult of a plethoric disease. However, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who is the best living 

 authority upon anything connected with mycology, says, that he has no doubt 

 but that this production is Sporendomena muscaB, first described by Fries, in his 

 " Systema Muxologicorum," about 1834. There is little doubt but that the fly is 

 attacked whilst yet living, but that the parasite is not fully developed until after 

 death. At the meeting of the British Association in Liverpool (1834), Dr. 

 Lyndley gave the following account of this excrescence : "It is emitted from all 

 parts of the fly. When highly magnified it appears to consist of elongated filaments 

 in close contact. When a small portion is compressed, it yields moisture, but 

 without the appearance of distinct filaments. When moistened with water the 

 fibres separate from the mass, some being simple, others terminated by a minute 

 globule ; those upon the wing appeared merely globules. From the dispersion of 

 the particles to a considerable distance around the body, it would appear as if 

 sporules were discharged." This subject is a most interesting one, but as yet it 

 does not appear to have been investigated with the carefulness desirable. 



COLEOPTERA. 



Many instances are on record of fungi growing on coleoptera, both in the larvae 

 and winged state. Perhaps the most remarkable is the following one : A 

 Curculio, from Brazil, exhibited by the Rev. Mr. Hope, at a meeting of the Ento- 

 mological Society of London ; from between the prothorax and elytra of which two 

 very long and clavate fungi had been produced one of which was entire, the other 

 branched. Of this specimen I exhibit a sketch. 



Dickson, in his " Fasciculus Plan tarum CryptogammarunBritannicarum," figures 

 Sphagria entomorrhiza, growing from a larva, which is apparently that of one of the 

 water beetles. 



Mr. Westwood also possesses a large lamellicorn larva from South America, 

 from the pectoral surface of the thoracic segments of which a long, slender, 

 curved vegetable was produced. 



