Peziza tuherom, and having before explained the general characters and botanical structure of Pezizas in 

 general, we hope a few particulars respecting a most wonderful Sphmria will prove interesting, althougli we 

 do not present our figures of it, as it is not " British ; " we have, however, two British Spharias, similarly 

 produced on the dead larvae and pupae of insects, and the topic seems scarcely irrelevant to our present 

 article, since it helps to explain the probable conversion of the substance of Sderotium, by the parasitic 

 Peziza tuberosa. 



The caterpillar with a Spliaria growing from it, of wliich we made as correct a portrait as possible, 

 and wliich portrait is now before us, is the larva of Hepialus virescens of Doubleday, found in New 

 Zealand ; it is as large as those of our larger Sphinxes ; all colour has vanished, but the contour remains 

 perfect. From the head proceeds a rigid, contorted stem, six or seven inches long, Uke a dry twig, or very 

 solid herbaceous fiower-stem ; the upper portion, for about one-third of its length, is closely beset with 

 minute spheres, many broken open and containing dust-like bodies. When first we examined this curious 

 object, thinking of Tartarian lambs, and similar ingenious fabrications, we shrewdly suspected that in his 

 native paradise of ferns, a cunning New Zealander had trimmed the rhizoma of some creeping fern into this 

 caterpillar, and that the fructification was analogous to that of the Adder's-tongue ; but being assured, on 

 competent authority, that a powerful microscope developed asci and sporidia in the capsules, which con- 

 sequently were true SpJiarias — that we had in England both a caterpillar Spliaria {militaris) and a chrysalis 

 Sp/iaria [entomorrhiza) about which no question had ever been raised, and fine specimens of both had been 

 found by Mr. Berkeley in person — it only remained to admire, in acquiescing wonder, one more of the 

 marvels of creation. •• 



The following valuable information was transmitted by Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, of H. M. discovery-ship 

 Erebus : — " About Spharia Rohertsii I collected all the information and as many specimens as I could, but 

 still am much at a loss to account for its development. They are found in s]Dring, generally under tree- 

 ferns ; the caterpillar is buried in the ground, as is the lower portion of the fungus. Now both these 

 fungi [i. e. this and the following species') belong to caterpillars which bury themselves for the purpose of 

 undergoing the metamorphosis ; and both Mr. Taylor and Mr. Colenso hold the same opinion, that in the 

 act of working the soil the spores of the fungus are lodged in the first joint of the neck, and the caterpillar 

 settles head upwards to undergo its change, when the vegetable developes itself. I do not remember whether 

 you have remarked, in your ' Icones,' that the entire body of the insect is fiUed with a pith, or corky vegetable 

 substance, and that the intestines are displaced, which my specimens in spirits show well ; and then what 

 does the muscular fibre of the animal become ? It must, I suppose, be aU turned into vegetable, for the skin 

 of the creature remains quite sound all this time. This change may take place from the displacement of 

 one gas, and development of another ; it also occurs in the dark, and is hence somewhat analogous to the 

 formation of fungi on the timber-work in mines. However this may be, the whole insect seems entirely 

 metamorphosed into vegetable, with the exception of the skin and intestines." — Rev. M. J. Berkeley : On 

 some Entomogenons SplMfia (Hooker's Journal of Botany). 



' Spliaria Taylori, an analogous Australian species. 



