106 Exhibitions. [July, 



The Chairman also announced that Mr. T. H. Holland had been 

 elected a member of the Council of the Society. 



The General Secretary reported that the Hon. Mr. Justice F. E. 

 Pargiter had been appointed to serve on the Finance and Philological 

 Committees, and Dr. E. D. Rosa on the Library Committee of the 

 Society during the present year. 



The Natural History Secretary exhibited pupa? and moths, to- 

 gether with drawings of all the stages in the life-history of the Tineid 

 larva? shown at the last meeting feeding upon hair taken from a badly 

 attacked mounted head of an Ovis hodgsoni. The first of these larva? 

 changed to pupa? on the 6th June, and others followed suit on the 

 following days, until by the 25th all had pupated. In doing this, they 

 attach themselves either amongst the hairs by means of thin silken 

 strands, or more often collect gregariously together in bunches. The 

 covers of the box in which tbey were kept were all made in this way, 

 the larvae congregating together and spinning their cases together. 

 They pupate within the case. Pupation lasts but a few days only, the 

 first moths issuing on 11th June, whilst others followed on 14th and 

 subsequent days, and are still emerging. The pupa? moves itself to the 

 mouth of the case, when the moth is ready to emerge, and protrudes be- 

 yond it to facilitate the exit of the moth. Thus, when the latter has es- 

 caped, the empty pupal case remains projecting from the mouth. The 

 pupa is brown in colour and very small. Length 6 millim. The figure 

 shows the larval cases collected gregariously together, and an empty 

 pupal case projecting from the mouth of the larval case. 



The moth is a tiny grey insect with very long fringes to its wings, 

 which are longish and narrow and covered with long scales especially 

 near the inner angles of the lower wings. Wing Exp. — 13 *2 millim. 



Mr. Stebbing also exhibited a small species of Thanasimus ■prox.formi- 

 carius, which is predaceous upon the larva? of the Bamboo shot- borer 

 Bostrichus pilifrons, an insect known as ' ghoong ' in many parts of India. 

 The larva? are long and white in colour, and also feed upon the Bostri- 

 chid larvae in their galleries in the bamboos. When full-fed they 

 pupate in the bamboo, and the beetles live inside it and feed upon the 

 shot-borer's larva?. They probably only leave the galleries to pair. They 

 are very active and excessively voracious. 



This beetle will be described in a subsequent paper. 



The exhibit shows the larva?, pupa? and adults of the Thanasimus, 

 as also the larv», pupa? and adults of the Bostrichus pilifrons. 



