100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



belong to this latter class, and many of them have been recorded 

 as parasites of lepidopterous larvae, as also the fact that their 

 pupae are attached by silk threads to the undersides of the leaves 

 upon which their hosts had fed. I now wish to direct attention 

 to the peculiar way in which the pupae of a species of Cirropsihis 

 arrange themselves after leaving the body of the larvae which 

 they had eaten. As a rule, ten to twelve of the chalcids are 

 found in a larva, which they devour almost entirely, the head, 

 forefeet, and a portion of the skin being all that is left, and 

 around these the parasites arrange themselves in a definite circular 

 order, lying on their backs, the head directed to the edges of the 

 leaf, with the other end of the body pointing to the remains of 

 the larva in the centre ; in a word, they are arranged like the 

 spokes of a carriage wheel, the axis being represented by the 

 exuviae in the centre. When they emerge from the caterpillar 

 they are quite soft and white, but in a day or two they become 

 black and hard. As I have seen nine different batches of larvae 

 arranged in this regular way, I think it may be concluded that 

 this is their normal custom. On the other hand, the species of 

 Eulophus pupate without distributing themselves in any definite 

 manner. So far as I can make out, the species is C. lamius, 

 Walk., Mon. Chalc. i., 327, 152 ; but I must confess my utter 

 inability to make anything of Walker's descriptions. 



IT. — Observations on the progress of Vegetation in the Public Parks, 

 (luring the spring and summer months of 1876. By Mr Duncan 

 M'Lellan, Superintendent of Parks. 



Mr M'Lellan stated that during the month of January the 

 weather was exceptionally mild, the mean temperature being 361°. 

 The following months of February, March, and April were un- 

 usually cold, wet, and changeable. The lowest point the 

 thermometer reached was on 11th February, when it reached 16° 

 of frost, and 6.77 inches of rain fell during these three months, 

 the mean temperature being 35°. On the 1st of May vegetation 

 was three weeks later than usual, and on the 2d the thermometer 

 indicated 2° of frost, but owing to the extreme lateness of the 

 season no material injury was done to the growth of trees or 

 shrubs, and by the middle of the month they were all proceeding 

 favourably. The oak was in full leaf about the 18th and the ash 

 about the 30th. The ash is generally the earliest of these trees, 



