March 6th, igij.] PROCEEDINGS. xix. 



The folloaving resolution was passed unanimously: "That 

 the best thanks of the Society be accorded to Dr. A. E. Barclay, 

 and to Mr. Noton, for their generous and valuable gift of a 

 microscope which formerly belonged to John Dalton. 



Professor G. Elliot Smith, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., made a 

 shojrt communication on the <discovery of the 'remains of a 

 second representative of Eo an thro pus Dazvsoni, which was made 

 by the late Mr. Charles Dawson. By the courtesy of Dr. Smith 

 Woodward, F.'R.S., he was permitted to exhibit models of the 

 newly-found fragments. 



Dr. Henry Wilde, F.R.S., conveyed to the Society his 

 regret that owing to the state of his health he was unable to' be 

 p^resent to read his paper on "Am Egyptian Meteorite." 



The paper which was read by the Honorary Secretary is 

 printed in the Memoirs. 



Dr. A. D. IMMS, M.A., F.L.S., then read a paper entitled 

 " Remarks on ' castration-parasitaire ' in Insects with 

 special reference to Termites." 



Dr. A. D. Imms referred to the occurrence among diverse 

 g'rioups of animals of 'the phenomenon known as " castration 

 piarasitaire." This designation was applied by the French 

 biologist Gia'rd to a particular phase of parasitism, in which the 

 parasite suppresses, or inhibits |the reproductive function of its 

 liost. In a se'ries of some twenty papers, published between 1869 

 and 1902, Giard elucidated a variety of cases ■ selected from 

 both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. One of the best known 

 is the infestation of Decapod Crustacea with cirriped and bopyrid 

 pfarasites pertaining to such genera as Sacculina Peltogaster, 

 Bopyrus, etc. In addition to destroying the gonads of its host, 

 Sacculina, for example, profoundly alifects the secondary sexual 

 characters. In the case of ipfested males of Inachus mauri- 

 tatiicu., this parasitism induces them to assume the characters 

 of the female as regards the form, of the abdomen, the pleopods, 

 and the chelse. Among 'insects several remarkable cases were 

 dealt with: (i) The infestation of bees of the genus Andrena, 

 and the wasp Polistes, through the agency of the aberrant para- 

 site Stylops and its allieis ; (2) The effects of the parasitism of 

 bumble bees through the. agency of the Nematode worm, Sphceru- 

 laria bombi; (3) Wheeler's discovery of the remarkable indi- 

 viduals found among Pheidole, and other an,ts, and termed by 

 him mermithagates — individuals which lose their reproductive 

 function, and possess an enormously enlarged abdomen, harbour- 

 ing a Nematode of the genus Merniis; (4) Kunckel d'Herculais' 

 discovery of the effects of the larva of the Dipteron Sarcophaga 

 upon the grasshopper Stauroiwtus, which they parasitise. By 



