XI V 



the imago stage of this order by Dr. Pahiien,- of Helsinberg. As these 

 brauchiae cannot be readily seen excepting immediately after transformation, 

 I think many members of the Entomological Society may not yet have seen 

 them. I may add that Dr. Palmen's view, that the branchiae persist in all 

 those Trichoptera the larvae and pupae of which possess them, does not hold 

 good. At least in one species of Tjeptoceridce 1 have observed that they are 

 cast when the pupa undergoes its final transformation." 



Mr. M'Lachlan said that the discovery by Dr. Palmen of branchiae in 

 the perfect insects of many Trichoptera was an extension of the observations 

 originally made by Newport,! and after him by Gerstacker and others, as to 

 the existence of branchiae in the images of various PerlidcB. Dr. Palmen 

 appeared to be of opinion that these persistent branchiae serve no functional 

 purpose in Trichoptera, and alludes to them more particularly as proving 

 that the branchial system of the larva and the stigmatic system of the 

 imago have no genetic connection, since in the imago branchiae and stigmata 

 may exist side by side. Mr. M'Lachlan further alluded to the existence 

 of marked branchial filaments in the imago of various other genera of 

 European Trichoptera not especially alluded to by Dr. Palmen, such as 

 Dlplectrona, Plectrooiemia and allies, Ptilocolopus, &c., and thought they 

 might yet be found to serve a functional (respiratory) purpose. The insect 

 sent by Dr. Fritz Miiller showed two or three branchial filaments on each 

 side of most of the abdominal segments. 



Dr. Wallace remarked, in reply to an inquiry of Mr. Sheppard's about 

 bis silk-worm experiments, that he had experimented with nearly every 

 kind of silk-worm which had been introduced into Europe, and that he had 

 come to the conclusion that the only one which would pay to cultivate in 

 this country was Bombyx Mori. It was true that the Ailanthus moth and 

 others would produce a silk ; but inasmuch as manufacturers, brokers and 

 silk-merchants had invested large sums in the produce of B. Mori, they 

 were not disposed to look with an eye of favour upon any other produce, 

 which certainly would lequire much alteration in machinery and in the 

 arrangements for business now extant. Moreover, the product of B. Mori 

 was a very superior article to that produced by any other worm. It was 

 true that in India, China and elsewhere native products were prepared 

 from cocoons of indigenous moths, as, for instance, the Tusser-silks from 

 Anther (jca Paphia ; Moonga-silk from AnthercEa Assama ; Pongees, from 

 China and Japan, from the cocoons of the Ailanthus moth and oi B. Pernyi; 

 likewise a very valuable silk from the Japanese oak-feeding B. Yama-Mai ; 

 and he thought that the cocoons of the species feeding on the gum-trees 

 near Adelaide, New South Wales, which were exhibited that evening to the 

 Society, might be utilised in a similar manner. But none of these silks 



* ' Zur Morpbologie des Tracbeensystems,' 1877. 



+ Aun. (k Mag. Nat. Hist. luii. Traus. Linn. Soc. xx. p. 4:25 (1851). 



