340 Transactions. — Zoology. 



All crevices in the walls of houses should be stopped up, 

 and clods of earth removed, and it might be advisable to run 

 a line of ashes next the wall, sprinkled with a little kerosene, 

 or a weak solution of carbolic acid in the proportion of one 

 part acid to one hundred parts of water. 



With regard to the larva, where attacks have been going on 

 during tbe growing-season the roots should be thoroughly ex- 

 amined during the winter, and all maggots destroyed, and the 

 roots dressed with lime, soot, or similar applications. The 

 best remedy for a vine-border is to clear it away and replace 

 with clean soil. Watering with a strong solution of ammoniacal 

 liquor and common agricultural salt is effective in preventing 

 the increase of tliis pest. 



Art. XLI. — Note on the Wandering Alhairos (Diomedea 



exulaus) . 



By Sir Walter Bullee, K.C.M.G., D.Sc, F.E.S. 



{Bead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 19th February, 1890.] 



Volume xxi. of our "Transactions," just received in London, 

 contains a paper by Mr. A. Eeischek on " The Habits and 

 Home of the Wandering Albatros." 



The author of that paper, having visited the Antipodes and 

 Auckland Islands in the Government steamer " Stella " dm-ing 

 the breeding-season of that species, seems to have enjoyed 

 exceptional opportunities for studying its history in the adoles- 

 cent state. But, unfortunately, through an obvious inaccuracy 

 of observation, he has failed to give us any very definite in- 

 formation on the only point that presents any difficulty. 



He says {I.e., p. 128), " The albatros takes five years to be- 

 come fully matured, and in each year there is a slight change 

 of plumage. The young, which are hatched in February, are 

 covered with snow-white down, «72(^ a bcautifnl specimen in this 

 stage exists in the Otago Museum. In the following December 

 they lose their down, and the plumage is of a brown colour, 

 with white under the wings and on the throat. In the second 

 year the plumage is the same, except that there is more white 

 on the throat and abdomen. In the third year there is still 

 more white, although mixed with blotches of brown. In the 

 fourth year they very nearly acquire the full plumage. The 

 male is white with a few very fine dark specks, except the 

 wings, which are dark-brown. In the fifth year they reach 

 their full growth, and the mature plumage is displayed — white 

 with blackish-brown wings." 



