According to Linnæus, this strange creature would have been included in the sub-order Homoptera in the order Hemiptera, or Rhynchota, and it lives on plants as a parasite. This necessitated bringing from Jupiter a quantity of the twigs and leaves on which it thrived; fortunately the insect devoured both dead and living leaves, or the difficulty of transplanting Jovian trees to terrestrial soil and keeping them alive would have been almost insurmountable. Although they brought as many leaves as they could, it was doubtful if they would have sufficient, as the insects were exceedingly voracious, but if not they would be able to return for a fresh supply. These twigs were most peculiar in shape and form, being infested with gall-gnarls, and having a hard, horny bark, rough and covered with gleaming white spots about the size of a drop of water; the leaves were long and fibrous, with long spines and serrated edges, from the points of which projected numerous long, silky hairs of such scintillating iridescence as to look as though spangled with mica or bright minerals, each leaf seeming edged with long and magnificently jewelled lace of charming colour. The leaf itself was blood-red like our Virginia creeper in autumn, while the lace near the stem was a deep violet, gradually and imperceptibly varying through all the gamut of browns, greens, reds, purples and the like, to a rich and brilliant yellow at the apex, and as these filaments were long, flexible, and in constant motion, each leaf was a kaleidoscope of exquisite colour—a dream of colour harmony. To Earth-ideas, the appearance of these bushes and shrubs surpasses all description, being a paradise, a heaven of beauty; every movement of air causing the filaments to quiver and the light to strike on different metallic surfaces, changing the whole scheme in the twinkling of an eye. So delicate and fragile are the leaves that when holding one between the thumb and fingers, however lightly, the mere pulsation of the blood flowing through the hand is more than sufficient to keep the whole curtain of coloured metallic fringe in a state of constant and ravishing motion. No such plants have ever before been seen or known on Earth, and in the _Regina_ rooms of the ancient British Museum may be seen one of them, perhaps the most wonderful of all the marvellous mineral and botanical specimens collected during the ship’s travels in other worlds. A ‘botanical’ specimen it has been proved to be, yet when portions of the bark, leaf, and silken hairs have been submitted to experts, they have one and all declared them to be specimens of excellent metal-work of some minerals at present unknown.