9 



by H. T. Stainton, No. 2 ; by the Aiitbor. ' Tbe Entomologist's Weekly Intelli- 

 gencer,' No. I ; by the Editor. ' Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' 

 Vol. i. No. 1 ; by the Society. ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' Vol. viii. No. 19; 

 by the Society. 'The Natural History Review,' No. IX.; by the Dublin University 

 Zoological Association. 'The World of Insects : a Guide to its Wonders,' by J. W. 

 Douglas; by the Author. ' The Zoologist' for April; by the Editor. ' The Journal 

 of the Society of Arts' for March; by the Editor. 'The Literary Gazette' for 

 March ; by the Editor. ' The Athenaeum ' for March ; by the Editor. ' Papers and 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land ; ' ' Tasmanian Contribu- 

 tions to the Universal Exhibition of Industry at Paris ;' by the Royal Society of Van 

 Diemen's Land. Fifty copies of ' An Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting 

 of the Entomological Society of London, held on the 28th of January, 1856,' by 

 Edward Newman, Mem. L. C. Acad. (nom. Latreille), F.L.S., Z.S., &c. ; by the 

 Author. A small box of remarkable Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, &c., from Ceylon, 

 received from Mr. Thwaites, M.E.S. ; by W. Spence, Esq. 



Prize Essay for 1856. 



The President announced that the Council had determined to offer a prize of £5, 

 for an Essay on the Natural History of Gelechia terrella, and whether this common 

 little moth was injurious to Agriculture or not. The Essay to be illustrated by figures 

 of the insect in all its stages, and to be delivered on or before the 31st of December 

 next. 



Exhibitions. 



Mr. A. F. Sheppard exhibited a specimen of Enuomos Alniaria, taken sitting on 

 a post, near Margate, in September, 1855. This is the third specimen of this species 

 known to have been captured in Britain. 



The Nuisance of Acari. 



Mr. Westwood read a note, addressed by a lady residing at Lyme Regis to Dr. 

 John Lee, of Hartwell House, Aylesbury, and communicated by that gentleman, 

 giving an account of the appearance in the writer's house of a vast quantity of Acari. 

 They proceeded, in the first instance, from some Egyptian palm-leaves which were 

 shut up in a dark closet, whence they spread through three rooms, and were seen in 

 thousands in crevices of wood, on chairs, tables, books, paintings and cabinets of 

 shells, so that they became a complete nuisance. Cold had no effect on them ; and 

 tobacco, turpentine, colocynth and Sir W. Burnett's disinfecting fluid had been tried 

 as remedies, with but little effect. Sulphur and nitre had been more efficacious; but 

 in consequence of their use the polish of the furniture and shells had been destroyed, 

 and the colours of the paintings had been damaged. 



Mr. Westwood thought the palm-leaves had probably been affected by Ptini or 

 Anobia, whose excrement and the debris made by them had afforded a nidus for the 

 Acari, in which they were for some time unmolested. He suggested as a cure the 

 employment of corrosive sublimate in solution ; but several members said that, how- 

 ever fatal this preparation of mercury was to insect life, it was also destructive to any 

 metals with which it came in contact, as proved by the rotten state of the pins in 

 insects and the wires in bird-skins which had been dressed with it, and a white film 

 was deposited on the surface of anything to which it was applied. 



C 



