146 



October 22, 1839. 

 James Whishaw, Esq., in the Chair. 



A letter from R. J. Bourchier, Esq., Corn. Memb. Z.S., dated 

 Malta, October 2nd, 1839, was read. It stated that Mr. Bourchier 

 had shipped two cases of preserved specimens of Natural History, a 

 box containing some living G undies {Ctenodactylus Massoni), and 

 an Eagle, for the Society ; the Eagle from Sir Thomas Reade, 

 Hon. Memb. Z.S., H. M. Consul-General at Tunis, and the remain- 

 ing speciznen from Col. Warrington, Corr. Memb. Z.S., H. M. Con- 

 sul-General at Tripoli. 



A letter from the Society's Corresponding Member, R. Mackay, 

 Esq., H. M. Consul-General at Maracaibo, was also read. It is 

 dated Maracaibo, July 12, 1839, and refers to an insect presented 

 by the writer to the Society, in the body of which a kind of plant 

 had taken root. 



Mr. Waterhouse observed, "that the insect in question was ap- 

 parently the larva of one of the Lamellicomes, and that on one side 

 of the body, springing partly from the thoracic segments, and partly 

 from the foremost segments of the abdomen, were about six sprouts 

 of some vegetable, probably of the genus Clavaria. The longest of 

 these sprouts is about one inch in length ; they are cylindrical, bent 

 in an irregular manner, have no branches, and for the most part are 

 joined together near and at the root. He also observed that nume- 

 rous similar instances of insects having this kind of vegetable pro- 

 duction attached to different parts of the body were on record : he 

 might refer to the well-known instance of the caterpillar found in 

 New Zealand, an account of which is published in the Transactions 

 of the Entomological Society*, where will also be found references 

 to several other cases. 



" That the dead body of animals constituted a substance fitted to 

 nourish a vegetable is not extraordinary ; but in the letter from Mr. 

 Mackay it is stated that the insect was alive when first found ; and 

 this is by no means a solitary instance in which these vegetable pro- 

 ductions have made their appearance on living insects. These facts, 

 combined with others, which tend to show that to a slight degree 

 there is an independent existence in the different parts of the same 

 insect, — where life is retained for a considerable time in parts, al- 

 though they may be separated, — are highly interesting in a physio- 

 logical point of view." 



Dr. Horsfield communicated to the Meeting a " list of Mammalia 



* Vol. II. Part 1, Journal of the Proceedings, p. vi. 



