1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



885 



noctuidce and (jeornetridce — do this to pnpato. 

 The fungus grows up to the surface of the eai'th, 

 and a little above. The root gi-ows into the 

 caterpillar, which it exactly fills in every part, 

 and, without alterinij its form in any respect, 

 substitutes vegetable for animal tissue. Then 

 both die, and become very hard, but with no 

 change of form. " llic tlii.iKj is tJicn <t wooden, 

 caterpillar.'" 



••Where the oweto is found, specimens are 

 easily obtained. It is light green when alive, 

 and the Maoris eat it in' its soft state. When 

 dry they powder it for use in tattooing." Wo far 

 this account is not ivally untrue, but is mislead- 

 ing. One would infer that the aninuil really 

 transformed into a vegctalile. Fn I'eality it 

 transforms only as a, vegi^table transforms into 

 a man when we eat cabbage. The fungus 

 grows from the caterpillar, and obtains its 

 nourishment by tak'ing the substance of the in- 

 sect. But what is left is no more the insect 

 than the stone of th<' fossil-fish is tlie tish itself. 

 But the close of the article is wholly unti'ue. It 

 is stated that the caterpillar and fungus were 

 made for each other. Yes, just as the lion and 

 the deer which it kills and eats were made for 

 each other. I imagine that the deer tribe 

 would object to the statement, just as I ween 

 th(> catei pillar that becomes a \ictim to tlu^ fun- 

 gus would do, could it sp<'ak: just as we would 

 object to the remark that we and microbes are 

 made for each other, because microbes kill 

 some people through consumi)tion. 



Again, tiie article states that the caterpillar 

 never exists without the fungus ('?), or the fun- 

 gus without the caterpillar. This is not only 

 untrue, but utterly absurd. If every caterpillar 

 is killed by the fungus, what keeps up the 

 species? The very fact of the existence of the 

 caterpillars shows that some are not attacked 

 and killed by the fungus, but develop into moths 

 which lay eggs and produce more caterpillars. 

 Suppose cholera were always fatal; liow absurd 

 it would be to say that people were made for 

 the cholera microbe, and never existed without 

 it! I am not sure that the reverse, in case of 

 this New Zealand fungus and insect, is not true, 

 but I presume it is not. It may be that this 

 special fungus must have for its life and growth 

 this special caterpillar, and will grow in no 

 other soil, if we may so si)eak; but I doubt 

 whether such is the case. While possibly it can 

 grow only in this species, more likely it will de- 

 velop from others as well. I send a copy of the 

 figure from the Scientific Aineric<tn, that the 

 readers may see how the fungus and victimized 

 caterpillar ajjpear. 



The explanation of 

 this is easy. The fun- 

 gus develops, at the 

 brown enlargement, 

 many spores, which 

 take the place of the 

 seeds in these lower 

 vegetables, like puff- 

 balls — the fumes of 

 which are these 

 spores, and like the 

 mushrooms or toad- 

 stools. These si)ores. 

 when they lodge in 

 suitable soil, and are 

 watered by the right| 

 conditicns. grow. Our 

 toadstools like a damp 

 rich soil. This fungus 

 takes to the tissues of 

 a cateri)illar. In its 

 growth it apijropriates 

 the substance of the 

 insect, which, as a tiik woodkn catkhi'IL- 

 consequence, dies, so lai:. 



LAKVA OF THE 

 JUNK BEETI.P:. 



the fungus is a terrible insecticide. Were all the 

 caterpillars attacked, as the article states, all 

 would die and there would be no more food for the 

 fungi. In case they grew on this insect only, as 

 stated in the article, they too would all like- 

 wise ])erisli. 



We have a case exactly like this, not uncom- 

 mon here. The common and very desti-uctive 

 white grub, Ldcluinstcrna 

 fxxca, larva, of the common 

 May or June beetles — often 

 called June bug — is fre- 

 ([uently attacked— see figure 

 — by a fungus. This fungus 

 is fatal to the grub, and we 

 may well wish it to become 

 more common, as we should 

 like to see all its hosts — the 

 grubs— destroyed. But, like 

 all vegetation, these fungi must have suit- 

 able conditions in which to thrive, and so 

 they often fail either to find the grubs or else to 

 develo[) when the spore is once planted. 



A. J. Cook. 

 Agricultural College. Mich., Oct. 15, 18'.)0. 



I am very glad indeed to have such able 

 authority as friend Cook come forward and tell 

 us that a statement like the above is not only 

 an untruth, but an absurdity. The world is 

 full of people who are ready to grasp and take 

 in as truth such misleading statements, es- 

 pecially when they come through such a journal 

 as the Scientific American. When the thing 

 first came under my eye. I pronounced it at 

 once as absurd as the popular newspaper yarn 

 of a year or two ago, that hens' eggs were being 

 manufactured, so real as to defy detection; and 

 when somebody else a little later said that 

 " these eggs would hatch chickens, but the 

 chickens did not have any feathers on," a few 

 wei'e ready to swallow this down as a real 

 achievement of the present age. Perhaps these 

 latter were younger people who did not give the 

 matter very much thought. We hope the 

 Scientific American will be fair enough to its 

 readers to correct the untruth which they have 

 perhaps inadvertently let pass in their journal. 

 The Scientific American deserves more credit, ' 

 perhaps, than any other paper published, for 

 promptly putting down any blunders in me- 

 chanics or machinery— the Keeley motor, for 

 instance. But it requires an editor of more 

 than human wisdom and energy to detect like 

 frauds in kindred industries. Perhaps this is 

 why foolish statements in regard to manufac- 

 tured honey have obtained space in so many 

 journals that are sound and accurate in their 

 own line of work. 



LOCAL CONVENTIONS. 



A MODEL ASSOCIATION IN E. FRANCE S NKIOH- 

 HOHIIOOI). 



The vSouthwestcrn Wisconsin I>(V',-keepei-s' 

 convi'ni.ion was held in the apiary rooms of 

 Mr. E. h'raiice, I'latteville, Wis., Oct. 8, 18U0. A 

 lai'ge numbei' was added to the membership, 

 iucluding some; from Dubuque Co., Iowa, and 

 Darlington. Wis. On account of so many par 

 l)ers read Ix'fore the convention, and th(> dis- 



