162 JBotan^ 



an instance were found again it would be rooted in a 

 chrysalis. He states that it very plainly belongs to 

 a genus of fungi, of which several species are known 

 and described, all having this habit of transforming 

 buried insect life into fungus tissues. In ^ew 

 Zealand one of these fungi plants itself upon the head 

 of a caterpillar ; always upon a caterpillar, and 

 always upon the head. It rapidly attains a growth 

 of several inches, absorbing in its increase the body 

 of the insect. Nutriment from this source failing, 

 the fungus extends its roots to the soil, and there 

 completes its growth and decay. In the shops of 

 apothecaries in China a prominent article, considered 

 a specific for many ills, is sold in little bundles. 

 These bundles appear like a bunch of dry and 

 cooked sticks four inches long. Examination shows 

 that each stick is a dried sample of this fungus 

 which thrives on caterpillars, and at its root end is 

 attached the equally dried head of the unfortunate 

 insect. 



The singular circumstances of this growth, this 

 strange union of an animal and vegetable, no 

 doubt impressed the Chinese mind as a manifestation 

 of some peculiar power, and convinced them that 

 necessarily it must possess healing virtues. Nor is 

 such a notion without parallel in the English race. 

 There is an ancient medical work which has a " cure 



