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three microscopes now before the meeting;, and the Fellows could examine 

 them for themselves. All were evidently of the same genus, which also 

 embraced the parasite of the itch in man, and of the scab in sheep, etc. 

 As to remedial measures, he could scarce offer any suggestions. As a 

 matter of course, seeing that the healthy plant alone had a chance of 

 resisting the destroyer, every suitable hygienic measure should in all cases 

 be adopted. Due shelter from winds should be afiforded. If the ground 

 ■was found to be exhausted of any necessary chemical element, this should 

 be restored, and proper quantities of manure and water furnished. From 

 the numbers of the animals he had seen in the bark it was evident the 

 poles should be carefully deprived of their bark, and it would probably be 

 advisable to soak them in tar before setting them up. This could be done 

 very cheaply, by means of rude wooden troughs of the same length 

 as the poles, as coal tar could be procured at a nominal price from 

 the gas works. The poles would thus be no longer a nidus 

 for the parasite. As to any application to the plant itself, it 

 was difficult to imagine how it could be effected as it was impossible to 

 reach by any means at our command, the under surface of the leaf where 

 the insect and the ova were chiefly found. The soil itself, however, as 

 has been already noticed, was greatly infested, and here the same agent, 

 sulphur, which was so noxious to the acarus (itch) in man and in sheep 

 (scab) naturally suggests itself, as a possibly effective application.^ A 

 pound of sulphur mixed with a pound of quicklime, might be boiled in a ' 

 gallon of water for half an hour. When cold, the clear liquor to be 

 diluted with water in the proportion of about one to sixty. This, by means 

 of a watering-pot, would be of easy application, and if found to answer, 

 would probably be as cheap as any other remedy, as sulphur, if in large 

 demand could, he was informed, be obtained in any quantity, and at a very 

 moderate price from New Zealand or its vicinity. 



Mr. M. Allport remarked he had been speaking on the subject a few 

 days ago to Mr. Wright, who informed him that sulphur had been tried 

 at home, but was decidedly objected to as it was found to be injurious to 

 the plant, although it was made use of with advantage in the preparation 

 of the hop for market. 



Dr. Agnew did not know anything of the matter practically, but 

 thought if the experiments made at home were not conclusively adverse to 

 the sulphur, it would be well worth trying it in the manner indicated, if 

 only, on a small scale, and on a few plants in the first instance. (As to- 

 bacco is noxious, to the parasite and can be grown so cheaply, would it 

 not, in the case of so valuable a plant as the hop, be worth a trial in the 

 form of a very dilute decoction applied in the same manner as suggested 

 for sulphur ? If the pest were treated vigorously by _ either of these 

 means, on its first appearance, even at the risk of injuring some of the 

 plants, a great discouragement might be given to its further progress, and 

 thus the nuisance be at least abated if not abolished.) 



Mr. Davies considered the subject just treated was one of considerable 

 interest, and suggested that the remarks by the honorary secretary should 

 appear in the form of a paper. Dr. Agnew promised he would at all 

 events notice the discussion at length in the official report of the proceedings. 



Mr. M. Allport said : Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, at the risk of 

 wearying you with the frequent recurrence to one subject, I must again 

 refer'for a few moments to the small salmonoid first sent to England. By 

 the mail before last. Sir Eobert Officer received a letter from^Mr. Youl, 

 which contains much that will interest the Fellows of the Society, espe- 

 cially as it tends to prove, as I have long suspected, that the difficulty of 

 distinguishing between the smolt of the true salmon {Salmo salar) and the 

 smolt of the sea trout {Salmo trutta) is very great. Mr. Youl says :— -" I 

 brought the little fish home from Dr. Giinther's, and carefully examined 



