XXI 



' Bericht iiber die wissenscliaftliclien Leistungen im Gebiete der Ento- 

 mologie,' 1871 and 1872. 



Election of Members. 



Ml-. Harold Swale, of St. George's Koad, Pimlico, and Mr. Thomas 

 Stanton Hillman were balloted for and elected Ordinary Members. 



Exhibitions, ^c. 



Mr. Stevens exhibited specimens of Tillus unifasciatus and Xylotrogus 

 brunneus, taken on an oak fence at Upper Norwood. These insects did not 

 appear to have been taken near London for many years. 



Mr. Forbes exhibited a specinaen of Quedius dilatatus (a parasite in 

 hornets' nests), taken by him at sugar in the New Forest. 



Mr. Champion exhibited Harpalus 4-punctatus, Dendrophagus crenatus, 

 Leptura sanguinolenta (female), Amara alpina (female), Cryptophagus 

 parallelus and Omosita depressa, all taken at Aviemore, in Tnverness- 



shire. 



A letter was read from T. V. Lister, Esq., of the Foreign Office, trans- 

 mitting, for the information of the Entomological Society, a copy of a 

 despatch from Sir John Walsham, Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires at 

 Madrid, relative to the plague of locusts, together with a box containing speci- 

 mens of the insect, and a number of earthen egg-cases, each containing from 

 thirty to forty eggs. The despatch stated that the Official Report showing 

 the progress of the plague and the steps taken to exterminate the insect had 

 not yet been pubhshed, but a copy would be sent to the Society in a few 

 weeks. It was said that the damage done by the locusts this year was 

 considerably less than that of last year, owing to the number of soldiers 

 which the Government had been enabled to employ since the war was over 

 to assist the inhabitants of the districts where the plague existed in 

 destroying the insects. The insects sent were stated to be specimens of 

 Locusta migratoria, but on examination they were ascertained to be the 

 Locusta albifrons, Fab. (Decticus albifrons, Savigny). 



Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited a series of thirteen examples of a dragonfly 

 (Diplax meridionalis, Sehjs), recently taken by him in the Alps of 

 Dauphine, between Grenoble and Brian9on (the exact locality being near 

 the village of La Grave, at the base of the 'Aiguille du Midi'), remarkable 

 for the extent to which nearly all were infested by the red parasite described 

 by De Geer as Acarus libellulse (perhaps a species of Trombidium). Of the 

 thirteen examples captured casually only one was free from parasites, the 

 number of them on the others being respectively 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 28, 

 47, 51, 73, 96 and 111, or a total of 481 on twelve individuals. They were 

 firmly 'fixed on the nervures towards and at the base of the wing, almost 



