130 



with the attacks of the beetle in the north for the last ten years. It has certainly been 

 unknown in the south, where I now am, until within two or three years, and now it is 

 swarming in every wood. Six years ago, when on a visit from India to my father-in-law 

 in Ayrshire, the Hylobius was pointed out to me by the old forester at Blairquhan as 

 a recent scourge which had just made its appearance. It appears, therefore, to have 

 travelled from the north gradually towards the south. Several persons here whose 

 attention I have drawn to the subject, and who have consequently directed observation 

 more carefully to the matter, have been struck with the extent of the damage inflicted 

 by the beetle on the woods around, which they had previously attributed to such-like 

 vague causes as dry rot, fungus, ulcers, &c., and I am persuaded that more careful 

 investigation will invest the ravages of the Hylobius with a degree of importance they 

 have not hitherto received. 



" By this post I send you a small box containing specimens of the beetle of both 

 sexes. One pair at least were captured in conjunction. I also send pieces of a stem 

 of a young larch, showing how completely they have gnawn the bark. I find trees of 

 all ages are attacked by them. On large trees the twigs that ha^ve been gnawn wither, 

 but the rest of the tree looks healthy. Branch after branch, however, is destroyed, 

 and then the top withers and the trunk dies. The numbers of the beetles are so great 

 that I can suggest no means for destroying them. They are evidently on the increase, 

 and will soon leave not a larch alive. I have also found them attacking the spruce 

 occasionally. 



" Have you been able to make any more discoveries of the habits of the Hylobius 

 from the German work you showed me ? I should be glad of any hints you can give 

 me to direct further examination of the subject. As far as I can observe, the breeding 

 season is now begun, but I have failed to discover any eggs or larvae." 



October 1, I860. 



H. T. Stainton, Esq., V.P., in the chair. 



Donations. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented 

 to the donors : — ' The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,' 

 vol. xxi. Part 1 ; presented by the Society. ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' 

 vol. X. No. 40 ; by the Society. ' Memoires de I'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 

 Belles-Lettres et Arts de Lyon,' Classe des Sciences, Tomes viii and ix. ; Classe des 

 Lettres, Tome vii. ; by the Academy. 'Annales des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles 

 d'Agriculture et d'ludustrie de Lyon,' Tomes ii. and iii. ; by the Society. ' Exotic 

 Butterflies,' Part 36 ; by W. W. Saunders, Esq. ' The Journal of the Society of 

 Arts' for September; by the Society. 'The Zoologist' for September; by the 

 Editor. 



