Ivii 



Mr. W. L. Distant remarked that he had learnt from Mr. Chennell that 

 Erthesmafullo, a very common Eastern Hemipterous insect, was largely 

 eaten by the Naga Hill tribes of N E. India. 



Mr. Meldola stated that while on the subject of insect-food he would 

 mention that Mr. S. Stevens had forwarded to him a query by Mr. J. 

 Watson respecting the chemical composition of the bodies of insects, 

 which, since they furnish all the materials necessary for the food of those birds 

 that, like swallows, feed on the wing, must contain, in addition to carbon, 

 hydrogen, and oxygen, the requisite nitrogen and phosphates. Mr. Meldola 

 remarked that chitine, the substance composing the horny external portions 

 of the bodies of insects, had been shown by analysis to contain about 

 6 per cent, of nitrogen. With regard to phosj)hates he stated that, 

 although he was sure the ash of the bodies of insects did contain these 

 salts, he was unable to find any direct statement to this effect, and at his 

 request, therefore, Mr. William Cole had been good enough to burn some 

 insects, and to test the ash for phosphoric acid, which he had succeeded 

 in finding. 



Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse forwarded for exhibition a living CurcuUo 

 found by Mr. J. C. Bowring in his orchid-house at Windsor. The insect 

 was identified by Mr. Pascoe and Professor Westvvood as one of the 

 CalandridcE. 



The Secretary then read the following : — 



Report of the Sub-Committee appointed to consider the communication from, 

 the Board of Trade, dated 2nd November, 1878, regarding the ravages 

 of Anisoplia austriaca at Taganrog. 



" We have investigated the matters referred to in the official corre- 

 spondence placed in our hands, and report thereon as follows : — 



" The insect Anisoplia austriaca belongs to a group of beetles 

 {RuteUda) allied to our common cockchafer, but is of very much smaller 

 size. We have been unable to find any record of the complete Natural 

 History [ab ovo) of this, or any very closely allied species. There can be 

 no doubt, however, that the eggs are deposited in the earth at the roots of 

 corn or grasses, that they soon hatch, and that the larvae feed upon the 

 roots. How long a period elapses before the pupal state is assumed 

 we know not. In the cockchafer three years are stated as the usual time. 

 In the smaller species we think that two years may be the outside limit ; 

 and that in the autumn of the second year of its existence the larva 

 either forms a cocoon, in which it remains quiescent until the following 

 spring, when it assumes tlie pupal state, or, as is more probable, it assumes 

 that state in the autumn, and the perfect insect may be developed soon after- 

 wards, but remains in the cocoon until tlie following summer. 



1 



