400 Transactions. — Botany. 



the active spores, that seemingly found a more than ordinary 

 place for nourishment and generation. 



The photographs, with the scale of inches beside the 

 specimens, will explain the unusual length of some of the 

 stems. It is a pity they do not show what might easily 

 be shown by means of micro-photographs — viz., how the 

 spores are generated. The spores, it would seem, are 

 caught in a fold of the insect's skin iu the process of 

 inhumation, and the moisture of the earth causes the 

 spores, or " asci,"' to send out a large number of fila- 

 ments like a fan, and these grip the skin, just like the rata 

 is seen to grip a matai. The skin, or chitine, is subsequently 

 absorbed, and the fine cilia pass within the animal and are 

 nourished by the juices which are undoubtedly kept for use 

 by the fungus until it is wanted in the process of growth, 

 just in the same way as a spider preserves the juices of its 

 prey by wrapping about it a material that takes the place of 

 the skin or integument. Thus the growth of the stem of the 

 fungus depends for its strength and nourishment solely upon 

 the caterpillar which it surrounds, and in a measure replaces, 

 keeping the internal organism for the sustenance of the plant 

 in its growth and reproduction. I have made a number of 

 experiments with the spores, and it appears they easily gene- 

 rate when placed under favourable conditions. 



If a few are slightly moistened in a saucer the " asci " are 

 seen to change at a great rate. At the part where they are 

 fixed on the stem a kind of swelling takes place, and fine 

 cilia-like spirules are thrown out in the form of a fan. The 

 swelling represents a gelatinous-like substance of a whitish 

 appearance. The growth takes place at a rapid rate, and I 

 have noticed on several occasions that, if the spores are 

 allowed after moistening to dry, a peculiar smell is given off 

 like that of decaying fish. I am unable to account for the 

 cause. Sir Walter Buller says that the late Mr. Skey could 

 discover no traces of animal matter in any of the remains of 

 the caterpillar. By burning the hardened and shiny portions 

 of the head, claws, and tail a most pronounced animal smell 

 results, and this is more perceptible in the case of specimens 

 just dug from the ground. 



Possibly the caterpillars when dug from the ground vary 

 considerably in their structure and condition, and it is certain 

 that until the full development of the spores has taken place 

 and the growth dies there must remain a certain part of 

 the caterpillar's body unused. As long as there is food for 

 the sustenance of the fungoid growth it is evident that the 

 stem continues to grow, and this can be seen whenever an 

 unusually large caterpillar is discovered. The stem of the 

 plant, as shown in the illustrations, extends to as much as 



