Wellington Philosophical Society. 667 



one point — at the neck, for the purpose of sending up a shoot. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker's theory was that the minute spores got lodged in the folds of the 

 skin on the caterpillar's neck in the progress downwards, which appears 

 to be always tail-first. Mr. Maskell had probably never examined any but 

 hard and dry specimens like that now exhibited, but he himself had dug up 

 hundreds of them. In the fresh state the body of the so-called vegetable 

 caterpillar is a compact vegetable substance with a round passage or 

 open canal down the centre. It has a fragrant woody smell, and to the 

 taste is exactly like Barcelona nut. What had originally been the skin 

 of the animal caterpillar had rotted off, and the outer brown skin on the 

 specimen exhibited was the natural covering of the fungus — an extremely 

 thin layer that could be scraped off with a knife, disclosing the white 

 pulpy substance underneath. The Maoris, who make use of certain woods 

 and vegetable products for procuring their tattooing powder, have dis- 

 covered a valuable property of the vegetable caterpillar ; for, reducing it 

 by burning to a cinder, they crush it into a fine powder, and obtain a 

 black pigment for their ornamental moko, rubbing it into the cuts on 

 the skin. He agreed with Mr. Hudson that the caterpillar attacked by 

 Cordyceps robertsii was not the larva of Hepialus virescens, as was gene- 

 rally supposed. Whether it was that of Porina mairi (Buller), as sug- 

 gested by that gentleman, he could not say, but he thought it was quite 

 possible. The only specimen of Porina mairi at present known was 

 found by him in the Ruahine Ranges in a locality where the vegetable 

 caterpillar was very abundant. The moth is supposed to be very rare, but 

 i hat might be because it had not been properly looked for, and it certainly 

 belongs to a group whose habits are strictly nocturnal. He had collected 

 i hem in all suitable localities in the ranges, and had very seldom found 

 them under those particular trees. They invariably have a single stem, 

 with its fructification at the top and well out of the ground; but some- 

 times the fungus bifurcates less than an inch from the head, producing 

 tvvo stems. The bodv of the caterpillar is sometimes slightly curved or 

 twisted, but in all his experience he had never known a specimen ex- 

 hibiting the stem-growth from any other part of the body. He might 

 here mention that there is an erroneous figure of the vegetable cater- 

 pillar in Mr. Edward Wakefield's "New Zealand after Forty Years" 

 (p. 82). There the caterpillar is represented as lying horizontally, with 

 the stems growing upwards at a right angle with the body. That never 

 occurs in nature, and he supposed that Mr. Wakefield had been misled 

 by having a damaged specimen with the stem detached. 



Mr. Travers said he had found the fungi at the roots of birch-trees. 

 He had found the beetle mentioned by Mr. Maskell, and it presented the 

 appearance of the vegetable caterpillar. He differed from Sir Walter 

 Buller regarding the vegetable caterpillar, and agreed with Mr. Maskell. 



Mr. T. W. Kirk said that the white grub referred to had been tried 

 here, but without success ; perhaps it is not the right species. He had 

 specimens of the Hepialus, and was quite sure that they do take to the 

 ground. The stems grow from either end, and from both ends of the 

 single specimen. The insect is not dead until it is quite taken up by the 

 fungi. 



Mr. T. Kirk said that Mr. Maskell, in his interesting remarks on the 

 " fly fungus " (Saprolegnea ferox), had omitted mention of the most 

 important fact connected with it — namely, its identity with the fungus 

 that attacks freshwater fish in various countries. Ten or twelve years 

 ago it committed great ravages amongst the trout in the Otago lakes, 

 numbers being diseased and unfit for human food. It was supposed that 

 flies infested with the fungus in its rudimentary stage were swallowed 

 by the fish, when the mycelium speedily developed, until it permeated its 

 muscles and formed white patches on the external surface, the fin being 

 often found completely rotten from the effects of the parasite. Vast 



