The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-26
sTRANGEsT OF INSECTS.
Something About the Queer BuIrush
CRterniIlnr

From the San Francisco Examiner.
Hidden away in the sanctum of the
curator of insects of the Smithsonian In
stitution at Washington, are a few speci-
mems of the strangest insect in the world
1t is so rare and 50 little understood that
The cabinet is not exhibited for public in
specton. 1t is known as the "bulrush
Caterpillar"
This wonderful insect is the plant worm
of -7ew Zealand. a growth apparently half
insect and half vegetable. In its short
cycle of life it is first a worm crawling on
The ground or boring into trees; later it
buries itself in the earth, and actually
sprouts like a plant seed and sends up
STEM foot long into the air, a stem with
seed spores and ali the characteristics of
vegetable growth. 1t is an apparent at
tempt on the part of nature to bridge the
gap between the vegetable and animal
kingdoms. 1t is found only in New Zea-
land
The 'bulrush caterpillar" is the result
of the attack OF a fugus growth upon the
grub of the large brown moths of the
Hepialdae family of the Porina and Pie
lus genera.
The grub feeds on the roots of plants.
principally on the New Zealand varieties
of the giant fern trees. The popular name
of the fungod growth that springs from
the grub is vegetable caterpillar" and
the native Mario names are "Weri' and
"Anuhi."
In clearing up original forest land in
New Zealand the larvae of the insect in
various stages of attack of the fungus are
often found. The grub is from Two to
three inches in length, blush white in
color, with black head and a thin skin.
Chocolate cOiored rings define the segmen-
tai development.
The fungus in growing absorbs the body
of the grub, assimilatlng the animal sub
stance and taking the exact form Of the
living insect. As 10 how the spores of the
fungi get into the grub il is idle to specu-
late. There Is absolutely no data upon
which to base a theory.
After killing the grub and absorbing the
body the fungus sends up a shoot or seed
stem from six to twelve inches long The
most remarkable feature of the stem is
that il invariably breaks through the body
of the grub in The same place-the first
joint back of the head The caterpiFars
found with the rush growing from them
are usually in a vertical position, with The
head uppermost, but sometimes the posi-
ton Is reversed. The STEM however. all
ways sprouts from the same joint The
srub burrows into the ground from two to
eight inches before it dies or is attacked
by the fungus.
a New LtdlbnQ SCleullSt VINO mas STU
died the strange insect, says: There is a
tree-boring grub exactly like the ground
one, but whether the two are Identical has
yet to be determined; however. the tree
boring one is also subject to attacks of
s. Robertsi as l have found one with The
seed growing from the head, the stem pro
jectng out of the bore the grub has made
the end of the stem standing out about
three inches beyond the bark Of the tree
A friend of mine has also found two 9th
ers in trees
1T Is believed that the ground grub en-
tiers the ground al the time when about 10
so through it's transformation to the moth
but this belief is open 10 question and
may well be doubted. The strongest rea-
son for doubling II is the fact, establish
ed beyond all question, that the tree-bor-
ing grub changes to the moth without
leaving the tree. When about 70 enter on
the winged stages of its existence, il
crawls 10 the outer end of its bore, slips
its outer membrane, and energies fully
developed moth. Hundreds of the empty
membranes may be observed during the
early weeks Of summer.
Another reason for doubling the ac-
cepted belief Is that live grubs can be
found in the ground at all seasons of the
year Those grubs which escape being at
tackled by the fungi appear as winged
moths about the middle OF October Their
existence IN the winged state seems 10 be
very brief. limited TO two or three weeks.
In about three weeks after their first ap-
pearance none can be seen, but dead ones
may b. found on roads or IN open places
n the woods
Some OF the moths are Of large size,
and beautifully marked. There Is such a
variety Of color among them that scarceiy
two can be- found 81 exactly che same
shade.
aTho caicrpirars are scattered over
NsfEH .Iss
on Undiscovered hand. the stems sticking
up through The deoaycd lsayes and looking
like miniature bulfush.'