Wellington Philosophical Society. 613 



Mr. W. T. L. Travers moved a vote of thanks to the retiring President, 

 Mr. Maskell, and in so doing referred to the great interest that gentle- 

 man had taken in the Society, and to the able manner in which he had 

 carried out the duties of President. He also referred to Mr. Maskell's 

 valuable contributions to the " Transactions " — especially to his work on 

 the insect-pests now so numerous in the colony. 



Mr. Maskell, in replying, referred to the visit to this colony of Mr. 

 Albert Koebele, the German naturalist who had been despatched to the 

 colonies by the American Government to investigate the presence of a 

 parasite which feeds on the Iccrya imrcliasi, and said he felt convinced that 

 it was a matter of great importance to the colonies, as it certainly was one 

 of most vital importance to the United States, where the ravages of the 

 pests were enormous. Some years ago the blight was very prevalent in 

 the Auckland, Napier, and Nelson districts, but it had never appeared in 

 Wellington. In later years, however, he said, the natural enemies of the 

 destructive blight had so rapidly increased as to render the pest now prac- 

 tically a thing of the past. He (the speaker), had been the first, about 

 twelve years ago, to philosophically describe the pest. About six years ago a 

 large valley near the Grafton Road, in Auckland, was literally a living mass 

 of it, it being found by millions on every tree, shrub, and even gorse-bush ; 

 but lately he tried to get specimens in this valley, and was unable to get 

 even half a dozen. This was in some respects also the case with the Napier 

 district, and it he said, might be hailed with joy by growers of fruit. The 

 blight was still prevalent in Nelson, but he had made arrangements to 

 have some of the ladybirds — the insect which had taken to eating the 

 Jcerya— caught in Napier and forwarded to Nelson in order to stop the 

 ravages of the blight in that quarter. He was sorry that the German 

 naturalist he had mentioned could not be present at the meeting, but he 

 had to leave Wellington yesterday for Napier, where he intended catching 

 some hundreds of thousands of the ladybird-larvaj for transportation to 

 America, and be in time for the American steamer leaving Auckland 

 shortly. The facts which this gentleman had ascertained on the subject 

 were exceedingly gratifying to the colonies and America, and, as the blight 

 is gradually being got down, the fruit-growers may hope in a very sh'ort 

 time to be able to grow their fruit free from this destructive insect. 



Election of Officees for 1889. — President — Alfred de 

 B. Brandon, B.A. ; Vice-Presidents — Charles Hulke, F.C.S., 

 Alexander McKay, F.G.S. ; Council — Sir James Hector, 

 Messrs. Govett, Travers, Tregear, Higginson, Maskell, and 

 Hon. E. Pharazyn ; Secretary and Treasurer — E. B. Gore ; 

 Aicditor — T. King. 



General Meeting. 



New Members. — J. Duthie and C. H. Izard. 



Papers. — 1. " On the Electro-magnetism of Atmospheric 

 Oxygen; its Causes, and some of its Effects," by the Hon. 

 Eobert Hart, M.L.C. 



2. " Notes on some New Zealand Birds," by T. W. Kirk, 

 F.E.M.S. {Transactions, p. 230.) 



