( xlv ) 



captured on former occasions, when the insect had heen 

 unusually abundant, had been found upon dissection to have 

 the ovaries aborted. 



Mr. E. W. Lloyd exhibited two specimens of Elater pomona 

 and one of Mesosa nubila, recently taken in the New Forest. 



Mr. Porritt exhibited a series of melanic varieties of Diurnea 

 fagella from Huddersfield, and he stated that the typical pale 

 form of the species had almost disappeared from that neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Mr. Dannatt exhibited a specimen of the so-called " Vege- 

 table Caterpillar," from New Zealand. 



Mr. Goss exhibited, on behalf of Mr. John Brown, of Cam- 

 bridge, a number of puparia of Cccidomyia destructor (the 

 Hessian Fly), received by the latter from Whittlesford and 

 Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire ; from Long Stratton, Norfolk ; 

 from Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk ; and from Wiltshire. He 

 also exhibited a living larva of Cephus pygmceus, Lat. (the 

 Corn Sawfiy), which had been submitted to Mr. Brown by 

 Mr. Charles C. Ambrose, of Swaff ham Prior, Cambridgeshire, 

 who reported that the species had been doing considerable 

 damage this year to wheat-crops in Burwell Fen. 



Mr. Verrall, in reply to a question by Mr. Enock, said he 

 believed that the Hessian Fly was not a recent introduction 

 into Great Britain, but had been here probably for hundreds 

 of years ; and that twelve years ago he had included the spe- 

 cies in a list of British Diptera which he had compiled. He 

 believed the reason of its not having been recorded years ago 

 was that the damage done by it was insignificant, and that 

 until the recent period of agricultural depression the British 

 farmer did not trouble himself about small grievances. 



Prof. Riley, in answer to the question as to the probable date 

 of the introduction of the species in this country, said there 

 were probably as many conflicting views on the subject as had 

 been expressed about its first appearance in America. These 

 were based on the facts that American grain-growers had been 

 practically unfamiliar with it prior to 1777 ; that its injuries on 

 Long Island followed the landing of Hessian troops in the sum- 

 mer of that year ; that its subsequent progress westward at the 

 rate of fifteen or more miles a year was distinctly traced and 



