91 



Mr. Meadcii then read a paper on the so-called Mosquito 

 "Worm and jNIr. Potter a few notes on the Banana disease. 



His Excellency, accompaniod by the Club's guests, then went round tho 

 room iuspectiug the colleetious, Mr. Caracciolo, tho President, giving what 

 evplanations were necessary. A young Boa {F.picratea Cenchris), was placed 

 loose on the table, and, to the surprise of most of those present, took a 

 mouse oft'ered to it by one of the menibers and devoured it without any dis- 

 play of ba^hfuluess. The process of swallowing seemed to interest the 

 visitors verj' much. Mr. Caracciolo exhibited a collection of all the known 

 bats of Trinidad, amongst which figured a very liue specimen of the fish- 

 eating bat {Noctilio leporinus), he also exhibited snakes and lizards in spirits 

 and stuffed alligators aud armadillos, Mr. Broadway had on view some very 

 nicely arranged cases of the Lepidoptera, Coleopter<t, Ortliopteni and 

 Ilymenopteva of Trinidad. Mr. Eagle some cases of Lepklnptcra, amongst 

 which a case of Trinidad Spliingcs attracted attention by their beauty. Mr. 

 Gnppy was to the front with his beautiful water colour paintings of a good 

 many of our butterflies and moths ;,he also showed some cases of Lepidoptera 

 amongst which some rare kinds of lleliconia and a large moth {TJnjsania sp ?), 

 caught at Morrison's Valley, Maraval, were conspicuous. Mr. Petersen 

 showed a tine collection of snakes in spirits. Messrs. Mole and Urich 

 showed the following live snakes : 1, a large Boa Constrictor 10 feet 

 long. 2, two young specimens aud a half-grown one of Eunectes 3Iurinw<. 

 3, a h&li grov:n Epicrates cencliris, which was much admired for its ii'idescent 

 coat. 4, a young Tree Boa [Xipliosoina Iwrtulanum). The above 4 species 

 formed a complete set of the constricting snakes indigenous to Trinidad. 

 5, a green Machete {Herpetodrijas viridissimus). C, a fine specimen of 

 a beautiful Tree snake {Di2)sas sp). 7, a common Cribo [Spilotes corals). 

 8, a Diamond Rattle-snake {Crotaltis Jiorridus). Two Mats [Tejits teguexin). 

 A large specimen uf the bird-eating Spider (Bli/gale), wrongly called Taran- 

 tula here. Mr. Mole also showed the prepared hyoid bone of the red howling 

 Monkey, which, by its large size and hoUowness, enables these animals to 

 produce the loud roaring noise they do. 



CLUB PAPERS, 



THE SO-GALLED MOSQUITO WORM. 



Evidently this form of insect life is incorrectly named, and 

 its origin practically unknown. The progress of the mosquito 

 into existence is well known, but it does not at all coincide with 

 that of the insect under view. Most Members of the F.N.C. 

 are more or less acquainted with the Mosquito Worm, and in 

 writing this short paper, my hope is that some of our Members 

 will find opportunity to give attention to this insect, and bring 

 to lightsome means of dealing with it, for in the country dis- 

 tricts itcaunot be considered less than a pest. We may take it 

 tor grantiid, that a llv of some unknown kind is the founder of 

 the mischief, and in its search for a house for its reproduction 



