Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . oth like a longtongue or feeler coiled up under the mouth, and inthe living caterpillar (or what the Maoris considerso) a small horn at the tail (fig. 163, a). Some of thecaterpillars that come to perfection, and have plentyof food, burrow and become chrysalids ; but othersliving on high trees {Rata), under which they arealways found, fall to the ground, and finding nofood among the dead leaves in the bush, follow theirnatural instinct and burrow; but as they are notready to turn to
Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . oth like a longtongue or feeler coiled up under the mouth, and inthe living caterpillar (or what the Maoris considerso) a small horn at the tail (fig. 163, a). Some of thecaterpillars that come to perfection, and have plentyof food, burrow and become chrysalids ; but othersliving on high trees {Rata), under which they arealways found, fall to the ground, and finding nofood among the dead leaves in the bush, follow theirnatural instinct and burrow; but as they are notready to turn to the chrysalis state, die, and thenthe fungoid growth commences. The whole of this beautiful theory, being basedupon an assumption which is evidently erroneous,crumbles away. The living caterpillar with itshorn, the handle of the chrysalis, and the longproboscis of the imago, are just sufficient to assureus that a Sphinx, similar to our Sphinx Convohuli, has in its perfectly natural condition been mistakenfor the development of the fungus which in realityestablishes itself on the caterpillar of a species of. Fig. 163. a. Caterpillar of a Sphinx ; h. Pupa of a Sphinx ;c. Torrubia Robertsii on the caterpillar of Hepialus vi-rescens. Hepialus. Any amateur entomologist will at oncerecognize the error. A quotation from the samegentlemans journal is, at first, more strictly con-fined to facts, and consequently of more interest: — August 1,1866.] SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 177 January 9th.—I and a Maori have just dug upa vegetable caterpillar from under the roots of arata. There are lots of them just here; he isdigging for a third. He says they go under groundin February, and it takes years for the vine (or ten-dril fuugus) to grow to its full length. The tendrilappears about four or five inches above the groundgenerally, but often much more. The whole length ofthe largest tendril I saw to-day was about nine orten inches. Some of the caterpillars appeared muchfresher than others. The end of
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