130 THREE KINGDOMS. 



little fellow was vigorously at work upon a third excavation. 

 When this was done, and all three taps flowing- profusely, his 

 sweet tongue was not yet sated, but his scarlet head was kept 

 bobbing to and fro, sipping the sap from the three holes, while 

 he energetically started a fourth. This completed, and all 

 four taps well under way, his whole attention was for a few 

 moments devoted to his sugar-bush, until, at length satisfied, 

 he flew off possibly to get a pickle! 



J. W. CLARK, Albany, N. Y. 



VEGETATED CATERPILLARS. 

 By Chapter 685, A. A., New Zealand. 



To give an idea of this singular curiosity, one must im- 

 agine a grub or caterpillar from two to three inches long, 

 with a dark brown body, in appearance not unlike a piece of 

 dried leather, while the legs, the feet, and the mouth are 

 perfect in every detail, as if the insect had been carefully 

 stuffed and preserved. But, most curious of all, from one end 

 there shoots out the thin stem of a plant from six to eight 

 inches long, perfectly rounded and smooth in form with a 

 rounded point, and of the same color as the caterpillar. The 

 natives explain this by saying that the grub, when alive, eats 

 the seed of some unknown plant or tree. This germinates in 

 its inside, and when the insect buries itself in the ground for 

 the purpose of changing into a chrysalis, gradually kills it as 

 it grows; and feeds, as it were, upon the vitality of its body. 

 The most remarkable feature is that the process should go 

 on while the outward form of the grub remains intact. The 

 grub is found underground, with the plant growing above the 

 surface. Some of the natives are of opinion that it is the seed 

 of the Rata which the grub eats in this way, but the question 

 appears to be undecided. 



(Grubs and caterpillars do not swallow seeds, though there 

 are grubs that eat into seeds, for example, peas, chestnuts, 

 and walnuts. The plant, in this case, is a fungus, named 

 Sphaeria Robertsii, the minute spore of which finds lodgment 

 on the outside of the larva. Another species, Sphaeria Sin- 

 ensis, grows upon a caterpillar in China. Editor.) 



