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, 



