THE PLANT-PRODUCING CATERPILLAR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 376, 26 April 1879, Page 23

THE PLANT-PRODUCING CATERPILLAR.

(From The. Colonics.)

Among the many ctxrious forms of animal and vegetable life at the Antipodes perhaps none is more remarkable than the Aweto, or vege-caterpillar, which is found in considerable numbers in certain parts of New Zealand, and"' less frequently, in a somewhat different shape iu New South Wales. In the body of this caterpillar literally grows the root of a species of rush or reed, whose stem, growing upwards in the ordinary manner above ground, is the perfect stem of a leafless vegetable with a head somewhat resembling the head of a bulrush. The heads, or seed vessels of the plants, are eaten by the Maoris, and, when burnt, are employed as a coloring matter ; the plant when roasted emits a strong animal smell. The natural history of this curious organism is briefly as follows :—The caterpiller known as the “ Aweto,” or Hipialus evircscens, when burrowing undei'ground previous to its metamorphosis to the chrysalis state, collects one or more of the seeds of a parasitic fungus ( Splicer ia Robcrtsii) in the joints of its neck, where, nurtured by the warmth of the body, they quickly germinate, the roots pressing downwards and completely filling the skin of the caterpillar’s body, and the stem springing upwards through tlie light rich soil till it attains a height of some eight or ten inches. The caterpillars seldom or never exceed three to four inches in length, and the root of the plant appears invariably to confine itself to the shell of the insect, which preserves its outward form intact, the feet, eyes, aud scales appearing perfect. Wherever the club-shaped heads of the plaut are seen, its catei’pillar-root may easily be found by digging carefully downwards to a distance of several iuches. This remarkable instance of a caterpillai’, naturally destined to develop into a gaudy butterfly, transforming itself into an integral and radical portion of an insignificant plant, seem 3 like a protest against the ravages which these larvae usually commit on the produce of the vegetable kingdom.