1903.] Papers. 109 



while the aborigines select men from their own tribes. The worship of 

 the village Goddess is largely supported by small rent-free grants of 

 land, which is held by the priest, who gets in addition daily doles from 

 the rich men of the village, and weekly doles from the poorer people. 

 Thursday is considered specially auspicious for the regular yujH of the 

 Goddess. Special offerings are made at all festive occasions, and the 

 Thakurani receives particular attention on the out-break of epidemic 

 diseases. The ceremonies performed on these occasions are the same as 

 elsewhere in India. The people have a peculiar means of knowing the 

 wishes and decrees of the Goddess. In almost every village is a male 

 or female medium, called Kalasi, through whom the Goddess communi- 

 cates with the people. He appears before the Goddess holding two 

 sticks in his hands, and swings his body to and fro. After a time he 

 begins to tremble, and in the course of his confused mutterings gives 

 out some secrets of the village, to win the confidence of the people. He 

 then predicts evil to some and good to others, prescribing at the same 

 time the remedies required in the shape of special offerings to the God- 

 dess and special favours to himself. Certain village Goddesses in the 

 plains are regarded as " Parama-Vaisnavis, " and animal sacrifices are 

 not allowed before them. Such sacrifices are also sparingly made before 

 the other Goddesses, probably owing to the spread of Vaishnavism. 

 Fowls are also let loose before some of the Goddesses by the upper 

 classes of Hindus, who do not eat them, and they are killed by the 

 lower classes who eat them. 



Finally, the author points to the practice of animal sacrifices, the 

 offerings of fowls, the relegation of the priestly function to the Sudra 

 castes, and the shapeless form of the images as indicating the aboriginal 

 origin of this form of worship. 



3. A note on the life-history of Chermes abietis-pioese, Steb. Ms. — By 

 E. P. Stebbing. 



(Abstract.) 



In a previous paper read before this Society at the Meeting held 

 on April 1st last, I gave an account of the mode of development of the 

 alar appendages of the Spruce form of Chermes abietis-picese. It is my 

 intention here to describe in detail the observations I have up to the present 

 been able to make on the life-history of this exceedingly remarkable 

 and interesting insect, which lives at elevations of between 7000 to 9500 

 feet upon Spruce and silver fir trees in the N.-W. Himalayas. 



The genus Chermes belongs to the great family Aphidse or Plant 

 Blights, one of the families of the Bhynchota or bugs, insects provided with 

 a proboscis or beak by means of which they suck out the juices of plants. 



