1S7P.] 47 



Europo ; 61 common to Asia Minor and Europe generally ; 51 were found orer all 

 the Palpearctic region. 



Dr. Wallace exhibited a collection of (chiefly) Butterflies made by his son in 

 Colombia. 



Mr. Distant exhibited the large water-bug Kydrocytlus columhia, Spinola, which 

 is common to Africa, Madagascar, South America, &c., with reference to some re- 

 marks in a letter from Mr. Gr. Thomson, of the Calabar district, who said that it 

 clings so hard to stones, that on being lifted out of the water, it will sometimes 

 bring with it a stone as large as a hen's egg. 



Dr. Wallace, in reply to questions as to the extent to which his ideas as to pro- 

 moting sericicultiire in this country had succeeded, stated, that in consequence of the 

 difficulty of inducing manufacturers to adapt their machinery to the working of silk 

 produced by the Ailanthus silkworm, and other large species, in Europe, he thought 

 that, 80 far as England is concerned, the industry might resolve itself iuto the pro- 

 duction of " grain " (eggs) of Bomhyx niorl for exportation to the south of Europe, 

 in competition ■w'ith Japan more especially, in which latter country the demand for 

 " grain " had been so great that the strain had deteriorated, and it was now necessary 

 that the South European stock be strengthened by introductioii of " new blood." 



Sir John Lubbock sent for exhibition specimens illustrating the economy of 

 three South Australian species of Bombycldce, viz., a Gastropacha, Opsirrhinafervens, 

 Walker, and Anapcea Oxleyi, Newman ?, forwarded to Jiira by Mr. Gr. Francis, of 

 Adelaide. All feed on Eucalypti, and the larva of the former makes a tough cocoon 

 of green silk ; that of the Opsirrhina is made of white silk ; the Anapcea was pro- 

 duced from larvae that differed much in colour according to sex, and which possessed 

 considerable urticating powers. 



Mr. McLachlan read extracts from a letter received from his nephew, Mr. W. 

 J. Wilson, Assistant Engineer on the Anapshahr branch of the Ganges Canal, re- 

 specting the appearance, in April, of an exceptional flight of locusts, which deposited 

 their eggs, and the young larvse were causing immense damage to the crops of the 

 villagers. The well-known plan of digging trenches had been applied as a means of 

 destroying the larvse, but the fatalistic ideas of the natives, and their indifference in 

 matters of this kind, rendered attempts to help them of very little avail. 



Mr. Meldola exhibited a Brazilian Trichopterous insect of the family LeptocerldcE 

 received from Dr. Fritz Muller, remarkable for the possession of extremely well- 

 defined branchial filaments on each side of most of the abdominal segments. Dr. 

 Muller was not disposed to agree with Dr. Palmen as to the universality of the 

 persistence of these filaments in the imago of those species that possess them in the 

 larval or pupal condition. Mr. McLachlan alluded to the existence of presumably 

 branchial filaments in the imago of certain British genera not especially alluded to 

 by Palmen, such as Diplectrona, Plectrocnemia, Poly centr opus, &c. Palmen had 

 greatly extended the observations of Newport, Gerstacker, and others, on the 

 persistence of branchiae in the imago of insects, illustrating the theory that the 

 branchial system of the larva and the stigmatic system of the imago have no genetic 

 connection, since both branchiae and stigmata may exist side by side in the imago. 

 Dr. Fritz Muller communicated a paper on the cases of Brazilian caddis-flies. 

 Mr. Wood-Mason read Morphological notes bearing on the Origin of Insects. 



