XV 
together with Stelis minuta and two species of Diptera (Senometopia 
spinipennis and Conops flavipes); two other Crypti (C. confutor and 
C. signatorius) being cited by Dr. Giraud. The Zonitis devoured the egg 
and pollen-paste whereon the Stelis also subsisted; the Chrysis, Crypti 
and Senometopia fed upon the soft larvee externally ; Halticella was reared 
within the more solid adult larvae, whose tegument, desiccated and black (as 
in specimens exhibited) served for the hybernation of the parasite; the 
Melitobia destroyed the nymph in its soft state by external attack, and the 
Conops deposited its egg in the body of the bee itself after maturity. 
Specimens of this Osmia alive, and of the briars from which they were — 
produced, were also exhibited. 
Mr. Champion exhibited a series of recently captured individuals of | 
Chrysomela cerealis from Snowdon, its only known British locality. Mr. | 
M‘Lachlan stated that he had recently seen this species in the Department 
of the Sadne et Loire, in France, in great numbers, each ear of wheat 
having several of the beetles upon it, and remarked on the singular nature _ 
of its sole habitat in Britain. 
The Secretary exhibited nests of a trap-door spider containing living | 
inmates, sent from Uitenhage, near Port Elizabeth, by Mr. Henry W. Bid- | 
well, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape of Good Hope. | 
The nests were not (as is usual) in the earth, but in cavities in the bark of 
trees, and the “ trap-door” appeared to be formed of a portion of the bark, 
thus rendering it most difficult to detect the nests when in a closed condition. | 
The Secretary was also informed that similar nests were constructed in 
door-posts and other places. 
Mr. Riley, State Entomologist of Missouri, exhibited sundry of the insect 
pests that do so much damage in the State, including the army worm | 
(Leucania unipuncta) and the Rocky Mountain locust (Caloptenus spretus), 
and entered at some length into the habits of the latter insect, and the vast | 
amount of destitution caused by it, stating that in a short period it devoured | 
almost every living plant, leaving nothing but the leaves of the forest trees, 
and converting a fruitful country into an absolute desert. From a know: | 
ledge of the habits of the insect, and believing in its inability to exist in a | 
moist climate, he had predicted that its ravages would not extend beyond a 
certain line, and he had seen these predictions fulfilled almost to the letter. 
Having noticed that hogs and poultry grew excessively fat from devouring 
the locusts, and considering that the use of them as food for man would 
tend to relieve some of the distress occasioned in the devastated districts, 
he had, shortly before leaving St. Louis, organized a banquet, at which | 
locusts, prepared in several ways (especially in the form of soup), were 
served up, and they were pronounced to ‘be excellent. He distributed 
a number of baked locusts among the members present, but did not) 
recommend them for food in that state, as the chitinous external 
