THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 235 



Extracts from the Proceedings of the Entomological Society 



of London. 



August 2, 1876. 



Sir Sidney S. Saunders, C.M.G., Vice-President, in the chair. 



Ravages of Locusts in Spain. — A letter was read from 

 T. V. Lister, Esq., of the Foreign Office, transmitting, for the 

 information of the Entomological Society, a copy of a 

 despatch from Sir John Walsham, Her Majesty's Charge 

 d'Affiiires at Madrid, relative to the plague of locusts, 

 together with a box containing specimens of the insect, and 

 a number of earthen egg-cases, each containing from thirty 

 to forty eggs. The despatch stated that the Official Report, 

 showing the progress of the plague and the steps taken to 

 exterminate the insect, had not yet been published, but a 

 copy would be sent to the Society in a few weeks. It was 

 said that the damage done by the locusts this year was 

 considerably less than that of last year, owing to the number 

 of soldiers which the Government had been enabled to 

 employ since the war was over to assist the inhabitants of 

 the districts, where the plague existed, in destroying the 

 insects. The insects sent were stated to be specimens of 

 Locusta migratoria; but on examination they were ascertained 

 to be the Locusta albifrons, isffZ'.(Decticus albifrons, Savigny). 



Dragonfly infested by Bed Parasite. — Mr. M'Lachlan 

 exhibited a series of thirteen examples of a dragonfl}' (Diplax 

 meridionalis, Selys)^ recently taken by him in the Alps 

 of Dauphine, between Grenoble and Briangon (the exact 

 locality being near the village of La Grave, at the base 

 of the Aiguille du Midi), remarkable for the extent to which 

 nearly all were infested by the red parasite described by De 

 Geer as Acarus libellulfc (perhaps a species of Trombidium). 

 Of the thirteen examples captured casually only one was free 

 from parasites, the number of them on the others being 

 respectively 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 28, 47, 51, 73, 96, and 111, or 

 a total of 481 on twelve individuals. They were firmly fixed 

 on the nervures towards and at the base of the wing, almost 

 invariably on the under side ; but whatever might be the 

 number on any particular dragonfly it was always divided 

 nearly symmetrically on the two sides of the insect, — those 

 much infested having a very i>retly appearance, from the 

 wings looking as if spotted with blood-red. He had no 



