1885.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 89 



The ocelli are nearly hemispherical, and the diameter of each 

 is about fifteen times that of a facet of the compound eye. Such 

 a form of lens would, I will concede, indicate for these organs a 

 short focus, and, hence, a fitness for near vision. 



But if the ocelli are intended for near objects, it is difficult to 

 understand why they are surrounded by a growth of hair so dense 

 as to permit unobstructed vision only in a very narrow field, and 

 why they are so placed on the top of the head as to be debarred 

 from seeing any objects in the neighborhood of the mandibles 

 and the proboscis, the ability to see which objects would appear 

 to be very necessary in the constant and delicate labors of the 

 worker Honey-bee among the flowers. 



A CATERPILLAR FUNGUS FROM NEW ZEALAND, 



AND SOME RELATED SPECIES OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



BY THE REV. J. L. ZABRISKIE. 

 {Read March 20th, 1885.) 



Of the objects which I have the pleasure of exhibiting this 

 evening, the main one is a larva, probably of some large moth, 

 infested with a fungus of peculiar growth. It was loaned to me 

 for the present occasion by its owner, the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, 

 formerly a missionary at Foo Chow, China, but now pastor of 

 the M. E. Church at Nyack, N. Y. It was presented to him as 

 a curiosity by a scientific friend, who had received it from the 

 chorister of the cathedral at Auckland, New Zealand. The 

 larva is nearly two and one-half inches long. It has become 

 changed to a hard, woody mass, the effect of the drying up of 

 the mycelium of the fungus. Of the fungus itself there were 

 originally two long processes, issuing from the top and back of 

 the head of the larva, where it articulates with the first segment 

 of the trunk (See Fig. i). Unfortunately, one of these processes 

 is gone ; but the other is here, although broken. These are the 

 stems of the inflorescence, intended to bear the fruit, or spores, 

 in an enlarging mass at the summit. From the stem which is 

 here present, the fruiting head has been lost. The part which 

 remains is hard, dry, and brittle, and has been curled in its 

 growth. It is also, at one point, abruptly and irregularly en- 

 larged. If straightened, it would measure about three and one- 



