20 



This concluded the business of the Annual Meeting, and 

 there followed an 



OEDINAEY MONTHLY MEETING. 



Mr. A. BiGGE presented to the Society, by letter, a painting 

 of a sheldrake, by the late Prideaux J. Selby, of Turrell House, 

 Northumberland, the author of '• Selby's British Ornithology," 

 who, the donor remarked, was an admirable artist, besides being 

 a most learned naturaUst. 



Mr. A. DowsETT submitted for examination true and false 

 specimens of the Colorado potato beetle, and explained that the 

 " false " insect was not injurious to the potato, feeding on some 

 allied plant. He also pointed out that there was a possibility of 

 the " true " beetle finding its way to England from America — 

 Avhere the specimen submitted had been found — by being brought 

 over the Atlantic in vessels laden with potatoes, especially if the 

 potatoes were put into the vessels with the haulm of the plant. 



The larvse of the insect, being soft like maggots, were not 

 likely to be brought over the water, as they tvould scarcely escape 

 being crushed, either during the loading or imloading of the 

 vessels. The differences between the " false " and " true " beetle 

 were said to be that in the former the two lower black lines 

 but one on each elytron, or wing-sheath, were united at the 

 base, while the lines on the wing-sheaths of the " true " beetle 

 were wholly separate and distinct, and that the " false " beetle 

 was generally larger, brighter in colour, with fewer markings on 

 the thorax than the " true " one. 



The President, Mr. G. D. Sawyer, showed a sponge from 

 the Phillipine Islands, North of Austraha {EuplecieUa Aspergillum). 

 It, he said, was only the skeleton of the sponge. In its living 

 state the framework was veiled by a delicate gelatinous tissue. 

 The texture had been compared to lace. 



