270 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
mouldy matter on the surface of the grain, which, through 
the microscope, resembled a saccharine paste. A week or 
two afterwards, some other grains from the same ear were 
opened, and the worms found alive, and apparently unaffected 
by so long a separation from the living vegetable. The 
accompanying cut represents the ergot worms as embedded 
in the grains, and upon the outside. 
Note. — The preceding remarks satisfactorily exhibit the ex- 
istence of an insect in its first stages of growth ; the observations 
made by Mr. Muller, constitute the first links in the chain 
of evidence still to be completed. Some facts, communicated 
to us by Dr. William P. C. Barton, are worthy of record, 
as contributing to this desirable purpose. They throw light 
upon the subsequent progress of developement made by the 
insect present in the grains of ergot; they are the following : 
Several years ago he procured a quantity of fresh ergot for 
exhibition to his class; it was of the best quality, picked by 
himself, and determined to possess all the powers attributed 
to the drug, from experiments made by a number of obstetri- 
cal practitioners; this he put into a box with a glass sliding lid, 
so closely fitted as to seal up the box from the external 
atmosphere. It was placed away in his cabinet, and not exa- 
mined until the next course, when it was found to contain 
countless winged insects, which he regarded as the Hessian 
fly. The ergot, from which emanated these insects, presented 
a peculiar broken appearance, the debris of the entire grains; 
it has remained in the same state until the present period. 
Upon inspection, it is found to consist of a mass composed, 
1st, of broken fragments of the grains, very friable, and per- 
forated by a canal, with occasionally a small orifice communi- 
cating externally; these fragments are formed by the exterior 
portion, the internal structure being entirely removed; 2d, 
a mealy substance in abundance, of an ashen color; 3d, an 
animal tissue of fine filamentous formation, giving the idea of 
delicate cocoons; with this the mealy substance is closely 
united, the two being matted together as if by adherent 
