FUNGI. 343 
and prominent a species in New Zealand, that it 
has a name in the native language, and is associ- 
ated with some of the ancient Maori superstitions. 
In the West Indies, wasps called by the in- 
habitants Guépes végétantes, may often be seen 
flying about with fungoid plants as long and 
nearly as bulky as their own bodies growing upon 
them; while in this country itself, it is by no 
means rare to see a humble-bee, or a common 
blue-bottle fly, that had been killed by the growth 
of a club-shaped Spheria from its body, from 
half an inch to an inch in length, of a sienna 
brown or lemon colour. In the forests of Pomer- 
ania and Posen the caterpillars have been de- 
stroyed in enormous quantities during certain 
seasons by a fungoid epidemic, caused by the 
mycelium of Empusa Aulice. It attacks every 
order of insects, with the exception of dragon-flies, 
in all stages of growth, and develops with pro- 
digious rapidity in the individual. Flies are 
usually attacked by a fungoid disease about the 
end of autumn, when the cold damp weather 
which then prevails has reduced the vitality of 
their bodies to the lowest point, and rendered 
them incapable of resisting external agencies. 
At this time they forsake their accustomed haunts 
in the open air, congregating within doors for 
warmth and shelter, and may be seen in consider- 
