NATURAL HISTORY. 
423 
the horny part of the head, the mandibles and claws. The 
vegetating process invariably proceeds from the nape of the 
neck, from which it may be inferred that the insect, in crawl¬ 
ing to the place where it inhumes itself prior to its metamor¬ 
phosis, whilst burrowing in the vegetable soil, gets some of 
the minute seeds of this fungus between the scales of its neck, 
from which, in its sickening state, it is unable to free itself, 
and, consequently, being nourished by the warmth and mois¬ 
ture of the insect’s body, then lying in a motionless state, they 
vegetate, and not only impede the progress of change into the 
chrysalis, but likewise occasion the death of the insect. That 
this vegetating process thus commences during the lifetime of 
the insect, appears certain from the fact of the caterpillar, 
when converted into a plant, always preserving its perfect 
form : in no one instance has decomposition appeared to have 
commenced, or the skin to have contracted or expanded be¬ 
yond its natural size. 
A plant of a similar kind was presented to me in 1837, by a 
Mr. John Allan, who discovered it growing in abundance on 
the banks of the Murrumbidgee, in a rich black alluvial soil. 
The insect in some specimens was six inches long, and the 
plant about the same length, springing like the New Zealand 
one, from the nape of the neck. In form this plant is quite 
different from the other, having a thick stem, crowned at the 
top with a fringe, which, when expanded, assumes the appear¬ 
ance of a full blown flower upon the surface of the soil, the 
rest being buried in the ground : this top is of a brown velvety 
texture. Many similar ones were found in the same locality. 
Numerous empty shells and holes were observed in the 
vicinity ; and, at night, the number of large brown moths 
was so great as more than once to extinguish my friend’s 
lamp. I sent it to Sir W. Hooker, who has named it Sphceria 
Taylori. 
I have alsoTnet with a large kind of beetle, the “ mumutaua 
abounding amongst the sandhills in the vicinity of the sea, 
which frequently undergoes the same vegetative change. The 
body is completely filled with this nutlike substance ; but in 
no instance have I noticed any plant shooting from it. 
