144 [November. 1882. 



factured from mustard, and wire-worms feeding npon it when in a putrescent con- 

 dition soon died, whereas they throve on the English cake, which was manufactured 

 from rape. 



Mr. Billups exhibited a large number of LeptkUa Irevipennis, Muls. (cf. ante 

 p. 90), both living and dead, obtained in the Borough Market, London, from willow 

 baskets imported from Cherbourg. 



Mr. C. O. Waterhouse exhibited a pair of antelope horns from Durban, South 

 Afi'ica, greatly infested by the larvae of Tinea vaatella, the cases of which projected 

 from them in all directions.' 



Mr. Olliff exhibited specimens of Synchita jnglandis, a rare British beetle, 

 found under bark of beech at Tunbridge Wells. 



Sir S. S. Saunders read a paper on two new species of fig insects, one of which 

 had been sent from Calcutta, and fed upon Ficus religiosa, ; the other was from 

 Queensland, and frequented Ficus viacrophylla, locally known as " the Moreton 

 Bay Fig." 



4:th October, 1882. — The President in the Chair. 



F. Swanzy, Esq., of Sevenoaks, was elected an ordinary Member, and Herr 

 Gustav Weymer, of Elberfeld, a Foreign Member. 



Mr. McLachlan exhibited nymph skins of JIagenius Irevistylas, Selys, a dragon- 

 fly of the sub-family Gomphina, remarkable for their very broad and depressed 

 form. They had been collected in Texas by the late Jacob Boll. He called attention 

 to L. Cabot's description and figure published in 1872. 



Mr. C. O. Waterhouse stated that the beetle destructive to beer-casks in 

 Rangoon, exhibited at the Meeting on August 2nd {cf. ante p. 120), was not Tomicus 

 {Xyhhorus) ISaxexeni, but identical with a species described by Wollaston from 

 Madeira as Tomicus pe?iforatus, and by Walker from Ceylon as Bostrychus testaceus, 

 the former name taking priority. He had seen it from both the old and new worlds, 

 but it was not a British species. 



Mr. McLachlan said this information had an important bearing upon the 

 question as to whether the greater portion of wood-boring Coleoptera attack healthy 

 living trees, or only those in which decay from other causes had already commenced, 

 for in this case the beetles must have attacked the wood of the casks after the latter 

 had been exported. He expressed his firm belief that such insects are not the 

 primary cause of decay and death in trees, but only precipitate the result. 



Prof Westwood stated that Audouin's experiments tended to prove that these 

 insects attacked healthy trees. 



The Rev. H. S. Gorham and Mr. Waterhouse were of opinion that they did not 

 do 80, and agreed entirely with Mr. McLachlan as to the conditions favouring the 

 attacks. 



Prof. Westwood read " Further descriptions of insects infesting figs," in which 

 a number of new forms were described (with accompanying figures). He pointed 

 out how \(^ry numerous these minute tig-frequenting llymenoptera were gradually 

 proving themselves, and their importance as connected with the process of caprifica- 

 tion. In efPect they appeared to exist wherever the genus Ficus existed in a natural 

 state. He was now acquainted with a multitude of species. 



Mr. G. Lewis read a paper in which he attempted to prove that colour in insects 

 is solely due to the action of light ; adducing a large number of instances in support 

 of his theory. The reading of this paper causi-d considerable discussion. 



