110 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 
they actually become the stems of a foliated plant; that 
leaves are sometimes changed into insects with a distinct 
head, throat, abdomen, and legs. No one, he says, can doubt 
these facts, as there are in Brazil thousands of witnesses who 
are ready to prove that they have often observed these phe- 
nomena. 
Some months ago there appeared an article in several of 
our newspapers under the title of ‘“‘ Vegetable Insects,” in 
which it is stated on good authority that there is found in 
Australia a caterpillar which is metamorphosed into a 
plant. 
On closely examining the phenomena, it is found that 
the caterpillars of a certain Hawk-moth in that country 
dwell and feed upon the leaves of a certain tree, and that 
when descending to the ground for the purpose of construct- 
ing their cocoons there actually grows out of the body of 
almost every one of them a vegetating plant, after which 
the caterpillar becomes dry and hard, and assumes the ap- 
pearance of cork. Now I suppose this singular phenom- 
enon may be strictly true; and, in order to its explanation, 
it is necessary to know that fungi, mushrooms, and other 
vegetable productions of this tribe have extremely fine, 
small seeds, which are dispersed in the air by the most sub- 
tile zephyrs, and which will germinate on every vegetable 
and animal body upon which they may lodge, provided they 
find there sufficient moisture for vegetation. If they fall 
upon the body of the caterpillar, as is probably the case, 
they will germinate upon it, take root in it, and of course, 
in developing, will gradually destroy the vitality of the an- 
imal, and leave nothing of it but the dried-up, cork-like 
body with its vegetating fungus. 
The same phenomenon has been observed in the Silk- 
worm, which is very often subject to a disease by which its 
body is completely covered with a white effervescence. The 
real nature of this distemper was for a long time unknown, 
