292 Linnean Society. [April 7> 



figure of the apparatus at its base. Among the fragments may be 

 seen numerous separated specimens of the stomatic apparatus. This 

 is described by Dr. Bird as oval in outline, nearly flat, and measuring 

 in its long diameter g-g^oth of an inch. It consists of a frame of silex 

 formed of two pieces, thick at their convexities, thin at their con- 

 cavities, nearly touching above and below, and grasping between 

 them two long and flat structures, fissured (apparently) in a pectinate 

 manner, and tapering from their middle towards either end. In most 

 specimens an opening exists between these structures ; in others 

 they are quite in contact. In some the thinner and laminated por- 

 tions of the frame are perforated by three well-defined apertures, 

 but this is by no means constant. The apparatus thus consists essen- 

 tially of four pieces, viz. two curved frames with their laminse and 

 two linear pectinated structures ; and these are placed at the base of 

 a conical eminence opening by a transverse fissure. By what means 

 it is retained in its position Dr. Bird has not been able satisfactorily 

 to ascertain. 



April 7. 



Edward Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Thomas Henry Brain, Esq., LL.D., and Charles Csesar Corsellis, 

 Esq., M.D., were elected Fellows. 



Read a " Note on the Generation of Aphides." By George New- 

 port, Esq., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c. 



In this note the author states his object to have been the verifica- 

 tion by his own observations of those made by Leeuwenhoek, Bonnet, 

 Reaumur and others, preparatory to attempting hereafter tor show 

 the accordance of those observations with some universal law of re- 

 production. The points to which his attention was more particularly 

 directed were, first, whether the Aphis is really viviparous at one 

 season and oviparous at another ; and secondly, whether the sup- 

 posed ova are true eggs, or, as some have imagined, merely capsules 

 designed for the protection of the already-formed embryos during the 

 winter season. 



On the 30th of November Mr. Newport ol)served the deposition 

 of the egg by the female Aphis, and found it to be a true e^^, similar 



