XXIV JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 



The following memoirs were read : 



" Description of a minute Strepsipterous Insect, found in Ire- 

 land." By R. Templeton, Esq. R.A. 



" Some Remarks on the Entomophagous Tribes of the Australian 

 Alps." By Dr. John Lhotzky. 



" Extract from an unpublished manuscript by H. K. Sayers, 

 Esq. Lieutenant 31st Regiment, relative to the Edible Insects of 

 the Western coast of Africa." Communicated by the Rev. F. W. 

 Hope. 



Mr. Ogilby, in allusion to Dr. Lhotzky's paper, stated, that 

 the circumstance of a tribe of Australian aborigines being accus- 

 tomed to feed upon a species of moth at a fixed period of the 

 year, had been long well known ; and he added, that its provin- 

 cial name (which, as well as a description of the insect, had not 

 been given by Dr. Lhotzky) was Bvgo7ig ; and that Mr. George 

 Bennett had given a detailed account of the insect, and the mode 

 in which it was collected and cooked by the natives, in his Wan- 

 derings in New South Wales. London, 1824, Vol. 1, p. 266 — 

 272, (quoted in the Entomological Magazine, Vol. 3, p. 212). 



The President also stated that the moth in question had been 

 formed by M'Leay in the genus Nycterohius. 



The President also communicated some extracts from Boteler's 

 Voyage (1835, vol. 2, p. 474), relative to the attacks of cock- 

 roaches, whereupon Lieutenant Sayers stated that whilst at the 

 Bahamas, the flesh of his own fingers had been eaten down to the 

 quick during the night by those insects, and a brother officer had 

 his feet so severely bitten by them, that he was laid up for some 

 time. They do not, however, appear to attack Russia leather, 

 but will gnaw common leather and books, especially in places 

 where they have been in contact with the naked hands. Mr. 

 Raddon also mentioned a similar instance of the attacks of these 

 insects on the feet of sailors : they had also eaten their clothes. 

 He stated that fowls will greedily devour them. 



June 3rd, 1839. 

 The Rev. W. Kirby, M.A., F.R.S., Hon. President, in the Chair. 



Donations. 



Part 1 of The English Agricultural Society. Presented by that 

 Society. 



