94 E. P. Stebbiug — Insecta Indica, I. [May, 



direct observations recorded from time to time in Europe and America. 

 He says : " In past years, before it was recognised that the single period 

 prevails throughout the atmosphere, except in its lowest layers, efforts 

 were made to account for the surface double period in two ways (1) by 

 referring it to a dynamic forced wave involving the entire atmosphere 

 as was done by Lord Kelvin, and (2) by seeking to explore the possible 

 connections between the observed waves and the manometric waves due 

 to temperature effects in the lower strata." He goes on to point out 

 how neither of these theories is satisfactory, and states " Like so many 

 other scientific problems which are difficult of solution the trouble 

 apparently lies in the fact that the necessary observations have not been 

 made in the right place. It was supposed that the variations noted at 

 the ground were common to the adjacent strata up to considerable 

 heights, but since meteorologists have succeeded in getting some upper 

 air observations this supposition turns out to be contrary to the 

 fact." 



I give herewith tracings showing the diurnal variation of pressure 

 at Calcutta, Lahore, Simla, Trivandrum, and Angustia, also the variation 

 of pressure between Lahore and Simla, from which it will be seen that 

 the diurnal variation is much the same at Hill stations as in the plains, 

 whereas observations in Europe and America would lead one to expect 

 that at 7,000 feet above the plains the variation would be of quite a 

 different form as given by Professor Bigelow. A copy of the curve 

 given in the Monthly Weather Review is attached for comparison. 



3. Insecta Indica, I. Coleoptera, 1. Notes on the Bostrichidse of the 

 Indian Region, Part I. — By E. P. Stebbing, I.F.S. 



(Abstract.) 



With the exception of the Lepidcptera and Rhynchota, a portion of 

 the Hymenoptera, a family (the Mantodea) of the Orthoptera, and another 

 (Cerembycidse) of the Coleoptera, but little work has up to the present 

 been undertaken in the direction of cataloguing or monographing the rest 

 of the known Insecta of the Indian Region. It is, therefore, extremely 

 difficult for workers in the country to find out what is known about a 

 family they may be interested in, and equally so to discover (without 

 going to the collections themselves which is generally impossible) to 

 what extent that family is represented by specimens in the Indian 

 Museum at Calcutta. 



The work already accomplished on these lines is easily summarised. 

 It consists of : — 



(1) A series of papers on the Rhynchota of the Indian Region by 

 the late Mr. E. T. Atkinson, I.O.S. Read before the Asiatic Society and 



