40 



removing this bank , and in doing so has lifted an immense quantity and 

 variety of shells, of which a few are now exhibited. The question is how 

 was this large sand-bank formed; and did the shells live on it, for they show 

 little or no signs of abrasion , as would probably be the case if they had 

 drifted any distance ? If they did , have they all been killed by impurities in 

 the water, for none are found living ? The sand-bank extends from the N. 

 W. corner of Darling Point a distance of at least 1200 feet towards Garden 

 Island. There is only 12 feet of water at the end and 6 feet at about 600 

 feet out. As deep as has been dredged, say for 28 feet at least, the bank is 

 all pure sand. — Mr. Fletcher exhibited specimens of a fly (^fam. Phyto- 

 myzidae] the larvae of which in great numbers have infested several compo- 

 sices — cinerarias, thistles, but more particularly the marguerites and sum- 

 mer chrysanthemums — in Sir William Macleay's garden adjoining, during 

 the last two months ; so numerous have they been that many of the plants 

 have been quites poilt for horticultural purposes. Also, for the Hon. W. R. 

 Campbell, M.L.C. , specimens of crickets (apparently a species of Gryllus 

 which , in the Macintyre River District during March and April last before 

 the frosts set in, appeared in myriads, doing considerable damage to the 

 sweet potato and lucerne crops, and injuring even blankets. — Mr. Frog- 

 gatt exhibited and read a short note on the life-history of a dipterous insect 

 belonging to the genus Syrphns. The specimens exhibited were bred from 

 some pale green larvae, found upon Eucalyptus leaves which were covered 

 Avith the larvae of Psyllidae. While keeping the Paylla in a damp box, some 

 very minute gi'ubs were noticed to be crawling about among the cells ; these 

 grubs rapidly increased in size, feeding on the sweet sugary matter into which 

 the moisture of the box caused the lerp to melt , but not eating the helpless 

 little larvae whose homes they destroyed. On the seventh day they were found 

 to have transformed into top-shaped pupae, Jying at the bottom of the box; 

 after removal to a glass-topped box , the perfect flies emerged on the fifth 

 day. Kirby says that the larvae of Syrphus in England live on the aphis. 

 Also specimens of a small leaf-boring fly [Phytomyza sp.) of the same species 

 as that exhibited by Mr. Fletcher, but bred from the leaves of the sunflower. 

 And some rare galls received from Mr. French, F.L.S. , recently named by 

 Maskell »The horn scale« [Frenchia cusiiarinae] . These remarkable homopte- 

 rous galls come from the Wimmera , Victoria, and are found on Casuarina 

 Silber osa. 



2. Annonce. 

 Le Docteur Joubin, maitre de conférences à la Faculté des 

 Sciences de Rennes, serait extrêmement reconnaissant aux Naturalistes 

 et aux Musées qui voudraient lui donner, communiquer ou vendre 

 des Brachiopodes conservés dans l'alcool en vue d'une étude ana- 

 tomique de ces animaux. Les espèces exotiques lui seraient parti- 

 culièrement utiles. Prière de lui adresser les offres au Palais Uni- 

 versitaire, Rennes i Ille-et-Villaine, France). 



3. Berichtigung. 



In No. 379, p. 445, Zeile 16 von oben muß es (unter Hyppocrene) 

 heißen : »Radialcanäle zu Magentaschen erweitert«. (Die Worte »schmal, 

 nichtff sind zu streichen.) 



Druck von Bi«itkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. 



