30 A LETTER FROM MAORI-LAND. 



places where these caterpillars are found, may be seen slender, 

 brown, spear-like stems, a few inches in length, projecting from 

 the ground. On digging them up, we find that they proceed from 

 the body of a caterpillar. These spikes are the bearers of the 

 spores of a fungus, the mycelium of which completely fills the 

 body of the caterpillar. On examination we find that the fungus 

 has completely replaced, with a dense, corky mass of mycelium, 

 all the internal organs of the caterpillar, though externally there is 

 nothing to indicate this, the skin of the insect being quite 

 unchanged and retaining its natural shape. The manner in which 

 the caterpillar becomes infected with the spores of the fungus is 

 not exactly known, but it is probable that they are either eaten 

 adhering to the leaves which form the food of the insect, or else 

 that they enter by the spiracles in the manner so well known in 

 the insect world. The name of the fungus is Cordyceps Roberi- 

 sii (Berk). The drawing (PI. IV.) will give an idea of the 

 appearance of this specimen. Similar organisms are, I under- 

 stand, found in Queensland, India, and China. In Nature, Vol. 

 XIV., p. 224, is a notice of a specimen from Queensland being 

 exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society of London ; 

 and I think there is mention somewhere in the Transactions 

 of the Geological Society of Glasgow of a specimen from India 

 being exhibited at a meeting of that Society by Mr. John Young. 

 A curious circumstance in connection with New Zealand is that 

 though rich in plants which secrete a great abundance of nectar 

 there are no indigenous bees. There are also no snakes, though 

 lizards are abundant, and a frog is also native to the country. 

 The absence of snakes is striking when we consider that all the 

 adjacent lands have them in abundance : Australia, Tasmania, and 

 Fiji all have snakes. The well-known absence of reptiles from 

 Ireland is analogous, but it is curious that we in New Zealand 

 should have other kinds of reptiles, but no snakes. It has been 

 given as a joking reason for their absence from the Green Isle 

 that it was such a forsaken spot that even a snake would not stop 

 in it ; this cannot be said of New Zealand, it is much too 

 lovely a land for that ; indeed, we might carry the joke a little 

 further, and say that New Zealand was such a beautiful land that 

 snakes had not the presumption to enter ! 



