PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIHD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 1009 



of India, and these descriptions liave included odd species of various 

 families as they came to light. There has been so far no general resume 

 of our knowledge of the group as a whole, so that Mr. Meyrick's paper 

 will, I hope, be of value to the general lepidopterist in India by givino' 

 him at least some idea of the characteristics of the various families. 

 In his sketch I note that Mr. Meyrick has omitted the Pterophoridse, 

 perhaps by oversight, and I have therefore included a brief account 

 of this Family in my note on the proposed catalogue of Indian Insects 

 in order to supplement his paper. The student of Indian Microlepi- 

 doptera should therefore Ite able now to place his specimens at least 

 into their proper families with some certainty. The time for a Fauna 

 Volume, or series of Fauna volumes, on the Microlepidoptera has not 

 yet come. As you see from Mr. Meyrick's paper, he thinks that we 

 know at present only about one quarter of the existing species and I 

 agree that his figure of ten thousand species is not below the mark ; 

 certainly I find that about forty per cent, of my captures are novelties, 

 in whatever part of India they are made. But I hojw that sometime 

 we may have at least a small guide to the study of Indian Microlepi- 

 doptera, as such a publication could not fail to stimulate interest in 

 these small but neglected insects. In their variety of habits and Structure 

 and beauty, as also in their economic importance, the Microlepi- 

 doptera scarcely yield in importance to the Macrolepidoptera, and 

 the elegance of the adult insects themselves in such groups as Cosmop- 

 teryx, Acrocercops, Lcucoptera, and Nemotois cannot but forcibly remind 

 one that Natura maxime in minimis miranda. At Pusa I have got 

 together a tolerably good collection of Indian Microlepidoptera, which 

 comprises many of the commoner species and I shall be glad to receive 

 material from all parts of India and t-e help in identification of speci- 

 mens as far as possible. 



We are all, I am sure, nnich indebted to ilr. Jleyrick fen- sending 

 in this interesting and valuable paper. 



78.— THE TRICHONYMPHID PARASITES OF SOME 

 INDIAN TERMITES. 



.By Captain Froilano de Mello {Instiiulo de Analiscs e Vacciiut, 

 Nova-Goa). 

 (Plates 1(58 — 170.) 

 It is with a feeling of jn-ide that I come to this Entomological Con- 

 ference to expose before its learned members the results of my researches 

 on Indian Trichonymphids. I dare say that my audacity will find 

 some just excuses in the hope I have been cherishing that this work 



N 2 



