er,
which is allied to, if not identical with, _Cordyceps Ravenelii_, B.
and C., and also that described and figured by M. Fougeroux de
Bondaroy.[M] _Torrubia curculionum_, Tul., occurs on several species
of beetles, and seems to be by no means uncommon in Brazil and Central
America. _Torrubia coespitosa_, Tul., which may be the same as
_Cordyceps Sinclairi_, B.,[N] is found on the larvae of _Orthoptera_ in
New Zealand, _Torrubia Miquelii_ on the larvae of _Cicada_ in Brazil,
and _Torrubia sobolifera_ on the pupae of _Cicada_ in the West Indies.
A romantic account is given of this in an extract cited by Dr. Watson
in his communication to the Royal Society.[O] "The vegetable fly is
found in the island Dominica, and (excepting that it has no wings)
resembles the drone, both in size and colour, more than any other
English insect. In the month of May it buries itself in the earth and
begins to vegetate. By the latter end of July, the tree is arrived at
its full growth, and resembles a coral branch, and is about three
inches high, and bears several little pods, which, dropping off,
become worms, and from thence flies, like the English caterpillar."
_Torrubia Taylori_, which grows from the caterpillar of a large moth
in Australia, is one of the finest examples of the genus. _Torrubia
Robertsii_, from New Zealand, has long been known as attacking the
larva of _Hepialus virescens_. There are several other species on
larvae of different insects, on spiders, ants, wasps, &c., and one or
two on mature Lepidoptera, but the latter seem to be rare.

That fungi should make their appearance and flourish in localities and
conditions generally considered inimical to vegetable life is no less
strange than true. We have already alluded to the occurrence of some
species on spent tan, and some others have been found in locations as
strange. We have seen a yellow mould resembling _Sporotrichum_ in the
heart of a ball of opium, also a white mould appears on the same
substance, and more than one species is troublesome in the opium
factories of India. A mould made its appearance some years since in a
copper solution employed for electrotyping in the Survey Department of
the United States,[P] decomposing the salt, and precipitating the
copper. Other organisms have appeared from time to time in various
inorganic solutions, some of which were considered destructive to
vegetable life, and it is not improbable that some of these organisms
were low c