VEGETABLE OR ANIMAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 443, 10 December 1908, Page 3

VEGETABLE OR ANIMAL.

A Strange Plant.

Some time ago (records the Timaru Herald) a remarkable find was made by Mr Eichner, in the Geraldine Bush, of what seems to be another of the weird creations of Nature which are continually coming under notice. It was a fungoid growth, but so closely approximating to animal life that it would be difficult to say where vegetable ended and animal began. Not only in texture, but also in appearance, was the resemblance to animal life striking, for the growth at first suggested an octopus. From a central body extended six tentacle-like arms, dividing a shoit distance from the body into two sections, and gradually tapering away at the end to the thickness of a pin. In the centre of the body was a ragged opening, apparently fulfilling the functions of a mouth, leading into a pouch about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, the texture of which resembled in appearance a fowl’s crop. The body and tentacles were crimson in colour, and the stomach a dirty white, and the whole thing looked and felt like flesh. Ihe find was given to Mr F. W. Stubbs, who is a student of Nature, but he bad never met with such a specimen before ; and Mr P. G. Allen, to whom it was shown a few days ago, said that though he bad met with growths somewhat similar he had never seen one of such curious form before. He was convinced, however, that the growth is a vegetable, and this is borne out by the fact that close alongside it was found another growth apparently exactly similar, and emerging from a globular covering of gelatinous consistency, to which was attached an empty shell, evidently the former covering of the mature fungus. From the mass white fibrous roots were growing. It has since been identified as a specimen of a peculiar fungus that grows in the New Zealand forests, which when mature has the smell of putrid meat.