240 



tuial Older of the Compositse," which was illustrated by a fine 

 collection of plants ; Mr. Devenish's " Notes on Alligator shoot- 

 ing," Mr. P. L. Guppy's " Notes on some Lepidopterous Insects," 

 Mr. R. J. L. Guppy's " Microzoa of the Tertiary and other Rocks 

 of Trinidad," which will appear, it is expected, in an early issue of 

 the Journal ; and finally, Mr. F. W. Urich's really useful, elabo- 

 rate and interesting paper upon those " terrors " of the tropics — 

 "Mosquitoes." 



The Government of the Colony has once or twice lately made 

 efforts to introduce silk worms, but these attempts have not been 

 attended with success. One of our members, however, Mr. P. L. 

 Guppy, has, on the other hand, succeeded remarkably well, espe- 

 cially with Antliera' Pernyi or Chinese Oak Silk Worms which 

 he fed on the Terininalia Catappa. According to the Encyclo- 

 j)edia Britannica this species is the most important of all the Sat- 

 (urinidce and produces the Tusser silk so largely used in 

 Europe. It is a native of Mongolia. Mr. Guppy has also suc- 

 cessfully reared the Atfacus Cynthia, which has also been impor- 

 ted by the Government, and his success with the foregoing has 

 been uniform with his efforts to rear Callosamia 2>i'omethea and 

 Telea poly phe inns, in all, four species. 



The Club was especially gratified to learn that Mr. G. 

 Massee of Kew, in his final and conclusive report upon the cane 

 borer Xylehorus perforans, proves that the fungus Trichosjyhoeria 

 does attack the young leaves of the cane, yet he says (and this 

 supports the contention of the Trinidad Field Naturalists' Club) 

 in older plants inoculation can only take place when the sur- 

 face is wounded, which statement coincides with the Club's opinion 

 expressed some time since, that the Xylehorus was the primary 

 cause of our planters' losses in the production of sugar. 



The members of the Club will be glad to learn that their 

 numbers have nearly doubled since last Annual Meeting, the 

 detail of particulars, however, they will find in the able report of 

 the Secretary, read at the meeting of the 4th instant. 



For sometime past it has been felt by many of our members 

 that prizes should be offered for the best work in the various 

 departments of Natural History and it Avas detennined that 

 when our funds were in a more flourishing condition these prizes 

 should be given. At the meeting of the 7th April last one of 

 our new members, Sir John Goldney, veiy generously made a step 

 in this direction and offered a prize for the best written account 

 of a field ramble on Whit-Monday. Owing to some cause or 

 other the papers were not very numerous, but otherwise the com- 

 petition was a very keen one and His Lordship the Anglican 

 Bishop of Trinidad, who was the judge selected, in giving his deci- 

 sion wrote that the papers were all good and there was little to 



