xt 



" From these notes it appears to me that a process of certain destruction 

 to the natural enemies of the borers has in some cases been going on, by 

 which tlie ants and their nests are swept off the fields together. In 

 cultivation spreading over great areas, as in sugar-cane culture, it is the 

 natural balance that must chiefly be looked to for protection. Clearing off 

 infested canes l)y every available means is most important, whether by 

 cutting off, grubbing up, or any other means, and utterly destroying these 

 infested pieces, including amongst them rotten cane thrown aside, which is 

 notably attractive to Calandra. But though no way is so thorough as 

 destruction by fire for the perfect clearance of these infested canes, they 

 should not on any account whatever be burnt on the surface of the fields. 

 A few straggling ants burnt on the heaps are of no account; but if the 

 remains of the standing crop are burnt in the fields, so as to spread the fire 

 over the surface, or in any other situation whatever where the fire can 

 destroy the ants' nests, it is a loss by each nest destroyed of so much 

 skilled protection to the cane crop." 



Mr. M'Lachlau stated that the lepidopterous larva proving so destructive 

 was probably no other than that of the moth noticed by Fabricius in 1794 

 as " PhalcBua saccharalis" and which had been commonly noticed since his 

 time in various West Indian and South American plantations. He agreed 

 with Miss Ormerod that the only probable means of lessening the amount 

 of damage was to be sought in the practice of uprooting and burning all 

 infested canes the moment they showed signs of the presence of the larva ; 

 not by burning them on the ground, but by collecting them and destroying 

 them by fire outside the plantations, by which means the risk of destroying 

 the natural enemies of the borer would be avoided. From the accounts 

 just read it appeared probable tli^- the Calandra only came in after the 

 canes had been rendered unhealthy, or were destroyed, by the larva of the 

 moth, and thus acted the part of scavengers, completing the work commenced 

 by the moth. 



Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited a pair, male and female, of Cicada montana, 

 taken in the New Forest, in July, 1879. 



Pa2:ier read. 



M. Ch. Oberthur communicated the following paper: — "Observations 

 sur les Lepidopteres des iles Sangir et descriptions de quelques especes 

 nouvelles." Coloured drawings of some of the new species described were 

 exhibited. 



