I MUST Commence by a short apology for the introduction of this subject-so foreign to the study of mycology or even botany in any shape. It is introduced because Dr. Bull has expressed a desire for it, and upon the grounds of the Woolhope Club not being sectional, or in any ways limited in its scope of subjects.

The Polycistina are very beautiful and very various in shape. They have been found more abundantly in the Island of Barbados than anywhere else, where they existed formerly in very vast numbers, so much so that their skeletons have formed a considerable amount of rock work. I was told some time since that their numbers were very much reduced, and consequently the possession of the original material is valuable.

They are singular creatures, for fortunately, old though the Barbados rocks are, they have living representatives in the Mediterranean. From them therefore we learn their life history, and to a certain extent their classification. They are creatures of low animal life, furnished with skeletons, it is said, of silica of wondrous beauty and variety as to shape. As to this silica I may refer again presently.

The skeletons are perforated with holes of various shapes, and have been formed of web-like deposits which the living Polycistin has woven for itself, external to its body which is really sarcode. This sarcode has projections which it protrudes through the perforations; they are pseudo-podia, and are most useful not only for motion from place to place, but also for collecting food of the minutest kind, such as diatomaceœ, small microscopic forms of algæ, sponges, &c., which they draw inside them, retaining the nutritive part and rejecting the remainder.

They are different to the diatomaceœ, desmidiei, and other microscopical forms in one respect, namely, that they are very variable in their growth, in this respect resembling Agaricus melleus. So irregular are they, that it would scarcely be unfair to call species of the same kind polymorphous.

This is one reason which I cannot think they are siliceous. Take the skeletons of diatoms and desmids, you find them very constant as to size, shape, &c., so much so that one often wonders how it is that you never find them varying. Desmids seem all to be born, as it were, on the same birthday, and to attain full size, colour, and perfection the very time of birth. They are wonderful in this respect, and are silica because indestructible in nitric acid.

Now Polycistina are destroyed at once in nitric acid. An old and much valued friend of mine, the Rev. T. Furlong, of Bath, was the first to discover the way by which the Polycistina were separable one from the other. He told me how he managed to do them, and also communicated to the Bath Microscopical

Society the results of his experiments. They were: 1st-Nitric Acid; 2ndStrong Soda; 3rd-Plain Washing Soda.

To Mr. Furlong I am indebted for the rough material you see.

Since Mr. Furlong died, the Polycistina have been made even more beautiful for the microscope. They are separated by the soda process, then put on a platinum plate, calcined by excessive heat, the result being that instead of the somewhat glassy appearance of the specimens, they are made into china, and are very superb as dark-ground illuminated objects.

THE VEGETABLE

CATERPILLAR.

(CORDYCEPS ROBERTSII).

AMONGST the promised papers, one with the title "The Solution of a New Zealand Botanical Mystery," by Dr. Bull, elicited much curiosity.

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Dr. Bull exhibited a curious horned caterpillar-like object forwarded from New Zealand which had been sent to him with the following amusing description :-"Two or three inches long, dark brown body, not unlike dried leather"legs, feet, eyes, and mouth, perfect, as if the insect had been carefully stuffed "and preserved. From the tail end there shoots out the thin stem of a plant six to eight inches long, perfectly rounded and the same colour as the caterpillar. "It is clear that the grub, when alive, eats the seed of some unknown plant or tree, which, germinating inside the insect (when it buries itself in the ground "before changing into a crysalis) gradually kills it as it grows and feeds upon it. "The most remarkable feature is not that the grub eats the seed, nor that the "seed germinates within its body, but that the process should go on whilst the "outward form of the grub remains intact. The grub is found in this state underground, with the plant growing above the surface. The plant has neither "branches nor leaves, but partakes of the nature of a creeping vine. Some of the "natives say that it is the seed of the rata which the grub eats in this way."

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Dr. Bull explained that this peculiarly nourished Fungus, with its elongated stem of brownish-black colour, about five inches in length, belonged to the order of Sphæriacei, of which several grew in this parasitical way on substances living or dead; this peculiar species being remarkable for being taller than other species of the same family.

There was an analogous British form which we occasionally find in our autumn Fungus Forays which is called Red Torrubia or Torrubia militaris, distinguished by its fleshy orange-red club-shaped appearance; it grows upon the larvæ and pupa of insects.

The Sphæria Robertsii grows from the head of the caterpillar of Hepialus virescens, a kind of moth, when it buries itself in the ground preparatory to undergoing its metamorphosis. The grub instead of developing into a beautiful moth is replaced by a Fungus which nourishes itself upon the tissues of the caterpillar. Thus a vegetable takes the place of this species of ichneumon fly.

This Fungus is described in Illustrated Natural History, by Rev. J. G. Wood, Vol. III., p. 530, under the name of Cordyceps Robertsii. An illustration and a note on the subject of Sphæria sinensis brought home by Mr. Moseley, the naturalist to the "CHALLENGER" Expedition, is described in the Gardener's Chronicle for March 6th, 1875, also for January 18th, 1879, p. 89.

Readers are referred to a full description of a fine specimen of Cordyceps Taylori, deposited in the Department of Botany, British Museum, which will be found in the Gardener's Chronicle for February 26th, 1887, p. 288. The spores of

the Fungus attack the living caterpillar whilst it is burrowing in the ground, and the usual seat of attack is the joint at the back of the neck, this being the most vulnerable point for assault, the joint being constantly laid open, and the skin distended during the process of burrowing. The mycelium or spawn from the spores, feeding upon the tissues of the caterpillar, replaces the whole interior substance enveloped by its skin, and the growth of the Fungus emerges from the original point of attack, assuming, after it passes the ground line, antler-like form upon which the spores are borne in closed ovoid cases, pouches, or perithecia. The illustration accompanying the description there given exhibits three of these antler-like growths growing from three contorted branches.

Sphæria sinensis is sold in bundles in Chinese markets, where it is eaten, and highly esteemed, as stuffing for turkeys.

There are

few good specimens of Cordyceps Robertsii to be seen in the Museum at Ludlow. The native name there given to it is said to be Hotete. (EDIT., 1889).

THE SPECIAL REPORT OF THE FUNGUS FORAYS, 1885.

FOR sixteen successive years has the writer found himself in the city of Hereford during that week in autumn which the Woolhope Club devotes to the study of mycology. In these sixteen years many old faces have passed away, many new ones have appeared, but still, this re-union of kindred spirits continues to be looked forward to by all those fungologists who have once been initiated into a personal participation of the fungus foray as one of the red-letter days or weeks of the year. The habitués began to muster from north, south, east, and west, on the evening of Monday, October 5th; mutual felicitations were indulged in, and amongst genial hand-shaking the prospects of the morrow were discussed.

The morning of Tuesday, October 6th, broke bright and sunny, so the party of eighteen gentlemen who assembled at the Hereford station were in high spirits. New ground was to be hunted in the woods at Pontrilas. The party included the President of the Woolhope Club, Mr. C. G. Martin, Mr. H. Cecil Moore (VicePresident), Dr. Bull, Dr. Carlyle, Rev. Canon Du Port, Messrs. Cunningham, Vize, C. E. Broome, W. Phillips, G. Massee, C. Bucknall, J. G. Morris, Edwin Lees, C. B. Plowright, and others.

Just as the start from Pontrilas station was made, under the guidance of Dr. Bull, a few drops of rain fell, but too few to disturb the equanimity of the fungus-hunters. One by one, however, the umbrellas went up as the rain-drops came down slowly and surely, increasing in frequency and volume. A belt of trees yielded several interesting species, amongst which was a Tricholoma, very much like A. terreus, but turning red when injured, for which character it was first assigned to A. inodorus (Fr.), but subsequently to A. atro-squamosus (Chev.) Having the habit and odour of A. terreus, it more resembles the figure of A. guttatus, Schaffer, in Cooke's Illustrations. Mr. Bucknall produced some fine specimens of the new Boletus tenuipes, a plant with the habit of B. piperatus, but abundantly distinct. The rain now settled into a steady downpour

"The land was water, and the sky was lead."

Such a soaking the mycologists had not had since the memorable days, in years gone by, at Whitfield and at Cabalva. The party were entertained to luncheon by Mr. Attwood-Mathews, of Pontrilas.

It is not too much to say the tables were loaded with fungi. The would-be mycophagists were, however, at first taken aback, by observing amongst these A. muscaria and several other beautiful but poisonous species. Confidence was, however, soon restored, when word was passed round that these were not intended for consumption, but were models skilfully constructed for artistic effect in honour of the assembled company. The luncheon came in due course, and was peculiarly grateful to the sodden fungologists. The party returned in the afternoon to