THE society's HL'UITAGE PROM THE MACLEAYS. 625 



riew, but bad not tlie necessary literature at band to enable ber to settle tbe point. 

 She, therefore, appealed to W. S. Maeleay tor his advice, and tbe letter is bis 

 reply. Alter explaining the characteristics and synonymy of tbe four known 

 species, the letter proceeds — "You have g-ot a new and fifth species under tbe 

 name of C. Bamsayi Kamsay Mss . ; and my cousin has given me the ? of another 

 quite new and sixth species from King George's Sound, under the name of Charagia 

 scripta, Maeleay Junr. Mss. It has the silver spots like letters, and small instead 

 of being large and round as in C. Ramsayi. My cousin will, I am sure, be happy 

 to show you d".?. larva and chrysalis of this K. G. Sound species. He has the 

 larvae now alive in the roots of a Leptospermum." 



Mr. Scott afterwards contributed a monograph "On tbe genus Charagia of 

 Walker," at a Meeting of the Entomological Society of New South Wales, lield 

 on September 2nd, 1807, in which be described four new species, including C. 

 Bamsayii and C. scripta [Trans., Vol. ii., p. 25] . 



Tbe letter continues — "The larvae of all the species of Charagia, when they 

 die in tbe earth, give forth different species of a fungus called Sphaeria. At 

 least tbe Sphaeria Eoherti [Sobertsii] of Hooker, a well-known species which 

 proceeds from C. virescens, is altogether different from the Sphaeria Atkinsonae 

 Maeleay Mss. of this Colony. Indeed, I know two species of Sphaeria that grow 

 from the Charagiae of this Colony, and a Lady-friend of mine, who is a capital 

 botanist, though no entomologist, is now preparing a work on tbe New Holland 

 species of Sphaeria, which she is studying in the country. Dr. Bennett is quite 

 wrong, as I told him, in thinking that it was tbe Sphaeria Eoherti [i.e., tbe New 

 Zealand species] which you found at Ash Island. It nmst have been some other 

 species, and you had better let me see it." 



Tbe belief here expressed that the lignivorous larvae of the species of Charagia, 

 which live in the tunnels excavated by them in the stems and branch&s of Banksia 

 and other shrubs, were victimised by tbe fungus Sphaeria or Cordi/ceps, though 

 generally accepted at that time, was incorrect. Mr. Scott, in 1864, showed that 

 it was the root-feeding caterpillars of species of Pielus, etc., wliicb pass some time 

 underground, that serve as the hosts of Cordyceps. This was pointed out in tbe 

 late Mr. A. S. Olliff's paper on "Australian Entomophytes," in the Agricultural 

 Gazette of N.S. Wales for June, 1895. One of the two species from Mount 

 Tomah, in which Miss Atkinson was interested, is therein described as Cordyceps 

 Selkirki, sp.n., the other being identified as C. Gunnii Berkeley. But tbe host 

 of tbe species from Asli Island, described as C. scottiamts. was shown to be the 

 larva of a Lucanid beetle. 



The memorials of W. S. Maeleay include fourteen beautiful water-colour 

 drawings — seven of Ash Island spiders, six of Lepidoptera, and one of tbe Vege- 

 table Caterpillar found by them; and one pen-and-ink sketch of two species of 

 Ticks. The drawings were all done by one or other of the sisters, most of them 

 by Helena. They are nearly all signed, or initialled, and dated, and were done 

 during the period 1852-64. With the exception of two dated Sydney, 1864, the 

 others were done at Ash Island. These were sent from time to time to W. S. 

 Maeleay by tbe Misses Scott. They were carefully treasured, and are as fresh 

 almost as when they were done. The letter quoted above is, unfortunately, the 

 only one that has been preserved. 



I bad the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Forde during the later years of her life. 



