Martham, Norfolk.
_Curious Facts in Natural History_ (Vol. iii., p. 166.).--There is a
parallel to the curious fact contributed by your Brazilian correspondent in
the "vegetable caterpillar" of New Zealand. This natural rarity is
described in Angas's _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_,
vol. i. p. 291.:--
"Amongst the damp moss at the root of the _rata_ trees, in the shady
forests not far from Auckland, and also in various parts of the
northern island, are found those extraordinary productions called
vegetable caterpillars, the _hotete_ of the natives. In appearance, the
caterpillar differs but little from that of the common privet
sphinx-moth, after it has descended to the ground, previously to its
undergoing the change into the chrysalis state. But the most remarkable
characteristic of the vegetable caterpillar is, that every one has a
very curious plant, belonging to the fungi tribe, growing from the
_anus_; this fungus varies from three to six inches in length, and
bears at its extremity a blossom-like appendage, somewhat resembling a
miniature bulrush, and evidently derives its nourishment from the body
of the insect. This caterpillar when recently found, is of the
substance of cork; and it is discovered by the natives seeing the tips
of the fungi, which grow upwards. They account for this phenomenon, by
asserting that the caterpillar, when feeding upon the _rata_ tree
overhead, swallows the seeds of the fungus, which take root in the body
of the insect, and germinate as soon as it retreats to the damp mould
beneath, to undergo its transformation into the pupa state. Specimens
of these vegetable caterpillars have been transmitted to naturalists in
England, by whom they have been named _Sphaeria Robertii_."--_Savage
Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, by G. F. Angas: London,
1847, vol. i. p. 291.
I recently had several specimens of the insect, with its remarkable
appendage, which had been brought from the colony by a relative.