160 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



The paper was briefly discussed by Messrs. Riley and Gill- 

 Professor Riley asked whether it was necessary to make a wound 

 in the potato before the larva would feed upon it. Mr. Hopkins 

 replied that this was necessary with old potatoes, but that the 

 larvae do not need an artificial orifice in feeding upon sound young 

 potatoes. Prof. Riley remarked that the statement that the ento 

 mologists had abandoned the idea that scab is caused by insects 

 was incorrect. He thought that no one insect is concerned in 

 the work. Several larvae are in the habit of wounding potatoes, 

 and just as the so-called scab upon apple is variously caused, so 

 does scab upon potatoes arise from several different causes. Mr. 

 Hopkins said that he had been misapprehended, and that mycol- 

 ogists Thaxter and Bolle, for instance had contended that 

 the insect theory must be abandoned. Mr. Gill asked how long 

 the scab is in developing. Mr. Hopkins replied that the feeding 

 period of the larva is about seven days. It may work a short 

 time and produce a scab of one appearance, or it may work a 

 longer time and produce a larger and more serious scab. It may 

 also work until the potato is practically destroyed, and resembles 

 one affected by an advanced stage of rot. The true potato-rot, 

 however, has a very offensive odor, whereas potatoes destroyed 

 by these larvae have no such odor. No mould or rot sets in 

 while the insects are at work, but when they cease feeding both 

 mould and decay set in. 



Professor Riley exhibited a series of West Indian Termites, 

 comprising Eutermes morio and E. rippertii, the latter having 

 been found in Jamaica. He briefly distinguished the species 

 and said that he had opened more than forty nests. He showed 

 that there is no regularity in the sexed occupants, some of the 

 nests being queenless while others had several queens. Some 

 times the queen would be without escort, and sometimes she 

 would have two or more males. 



Mr. Benton exhibited a nest and living specimens of a 

 Melipona, possibly M. favosa, ordinarily known as the Bottle 

 Bee of the West Indies, which had been brought home by Mr. 

 Hubbard from the Island of Montserrat. These were actively at 

 work and Mr. Benton explained the structure of the hive. Some 

 little excitement was caused by the exhibition of a colony of free 

 live bees until it was remembered that the Meliponae are stingless. 



