CORDYCEPS HAWKESII. 
77 
he says , 11 a great similarity to those of New Zealand, and from its 
manner of growth one is induced to suppose that the external 
plant also forces its way at once through the sandy soil, wherever 
the insect may happen to be situated in its burrow when overtaken 
by the effect of the internal development of the thallus (mycelium). 
Judging from the various lengths of the plant, this takes place at 
different depths from the surface ; and it is sometimes evident that 
the two ends of the caterpillar, when so affected by parasites, are 
buried at uneven depths, thus the plant emerging at the anal 
portion in one example was apparently buried for three and a 
half inches, while that originating at the anterior part was not 
buried for more than two and a half inches, showing a difference 
of one inch between the two ends, and at the same time proving 
the justice of the opinion previously expressed in reference to the 
New Zealand entomophytes, that the plant takes its rise from the 
caterpillar while in a horizontal, or nearly horizontal, position. 
The specimens in general show that the stem above the surface 
( i.e ., between the earth and the fructification) did not exceed a half 
or a quarter of an inch in length ; and the buried portion of the 
stem, it may be remarked, especially that nearest the surface, is 
covered with a quantity of fulvous woolly matter, which matter 
sometimes extends itself to the body of the caterpillar. 
“ The most curious feature, however, of this parasite is that it 
grows from various portions of the body of the caterpillar, and in this 
respect offers a great difference from that of the New Zealand kind. 
Various examples of this distinction are among the specimens 
sent by Mr. Hawkes to the British Museum. One exhibits two 
fungoid tubercles forcing their way through the head, two fungi 
growing from the same base on the side of the abdominal segments, 
and a short fungus proceeding from the anal segment posteriorly. 
Another specimen was apparently in the act of progressing head 
upwards, but which had been checked in its progress, and the 
fungus has thus grown from both its ends ; yet the two plants 
had appeared above the surface of the earth near to each. other. 
That from the head is about five and a quarter inches, while the 
one from the anal portion is eight and a quarter inches in length ; 
the latter, however, proceeded from a short stem which had first, 
apparently, grown downwards before the plant turned towards the 
surface. The stem is irregular in its length, and in places is very 
woolly, especially the part near the surface, and is more so on the 
one from the head. Some of these caterpillars bear a fungus com- 
posed of a short stem at the base, which has evidently been broken, 
and has then given origin to several branches ; these branches are 
more slender than where the plant consists only of a single stem 
throughout. The discovery of this species of parasite has dispelled 
the idea which had been entertained up to the present time that 
Cordyceps Gunnii was the only one to be found in Tasmania. A 
similar one, or perhaps the same species, is also found in Victoria. 
“ The caterpillar may be that of a species of Pielus , or of some 
