PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
57 
island in the West Indies ; many of them were found together buried in the earth, 
having each the like fungus shooting from their heads. Edwards supposes that the 
moisture of the earth caused these fungi to sprout. A parcel of these insects were 
sent to Isaac Mathew, Esq. (A.D. 1760), who gave him a sample of them, and 
thinks that the fungus dries and falls off before the Cicada arrives at its perfect 
state. Messrs. Kirby and Spence mention having one of this genus in their 
cabinet, “ with a kind of Sphseria, with twisted thickish stipes, and oblong head, 
springing up in the space between the eyes.” Dr. Hill says, in speaking of the 
Cicada—“ This, you may be assured, is the fact, and all the fact; though the 
untaught inhabitants suppose a fly to vegetate, and though there exists a Spanish 
drawing of the plants growing into a perfoliate tree, and it has been figured with 
this creature flying with the tree upon its back— 
“ So wild are the imaginations of man; 
So chaste and uniform is nature.” 
At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London, Mr. Westwood exhibited 
two specimens of Euglossa (family Aphidse), and from the basal portion of the 
abdomen of each of these an elongated process had been produced, which was 
bent backwards, and rested on the dorsum of the abdomen. In one of the speci¬ 
mens the appendage was divided at the extremity into two branches ; in the other 
it was dilated into two uniform lobes. There can be little doubt but that these 
are vegetable productions in various stages of development. Mr. Westwood also 
exhibited a specimen of Acanthocephalus (family Coreidse), from the scutellum of 
which a great number of filamentous fungi had been produced, each being as long 
as the entire body. These insects were from the collection of the Rev. E. Hope. 
DIPTERA. 
In the diptera, fungoid growth appears to be rare, though we find it common in 
the house-fly. I suppose there are few that have paid any attention to the matter 
that have not observed flies stuck pretty firmly against the glass on our windows, 
or on the ceiling, and surrounded by a quantity of matter that, at first sight, appears 
like grease. This Kirby and Spence thought to be an animal exudation, and the re¬ 
sult of a plethoric disease. However, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who is the best living 
authority upon anything connected with mycology, says, that he has no doubt 
but that this production is Sporendomena muscse, first described by Fries, in his 
“ Systema Muxologicorum,” about 1834. There is little doubt but that the fly is 
attacked whilst yet living, but that the parasite is not fully developed until after 
death. At the meeting of the British Association in Liverpool (1834), Dr. 
Lyndley gave the following account of this excrescence :—“It is emitted from all 
parts of the fly. When highly magnified it appears to consist of elongated filaments 
in close contact. When a small portion is compressed, it yields moisture, but 
without the appearance of distinct filaments. When moistened with water the 
fibres separate from the mass, some being simple, others terminated by a minute 
globule ; those upon the wing appeared merely globules. From the dispersion of 
the particles to a considerable distance around the body, it would appear as if 
sporules were discharged.” This subject is a most interesting one, but as yet it 
does not appear to have been investigated with the carefulness desirable. 
COLEOPTERA. 
Many instances are on record of fungi growing on coleoptera, both in the larvae 
and winged state. Perhaps the most remarkable is the following one:—A 
Curculio, from Brazil, exhibited by the Rev. Mr. Hope, at a meeting of the Ento¬ 
mological Society of London ; from between the prothorax and elytra of which two 
very long and clavate fungi had been produced—one of which was entire, the other 
branched. Of this specimen I exhibit a sketch. 
Dickson, in his “ Fasciculus Plantarum Cryptogammarun Britannicarum,” figures 
Sphseria entomorrhiza, growing from a larva, which is apparently that of one of the 
water beetles. 
Mr. Westwood also possesses a large lamellicorn larva from South America, 
from the pectoral surface of the thoracic segments of which a long, slender, 
curved vegetable was produced. 
