( iii ) 



others, comprising upwards of three hundred species, of which probahly 

 one half were undescribed. 



The President observed that, with a view to the fertilization of clover, 

 the agriculturists of New Zealand have for some time been anxious to 

 import humble-bees into their colony ; previous experiments having failed, 

 Mr. Nottidge, ot Ashford, had been endeavouring to supply the want. 

 Impregnated humble-bees are often found in a state of torpor, hiding in 

 holes in banks and hedgerows when the process of hedging and ditching 

 was carried on in November and December. Mr. Nottidge advertised for 

 specimens, offering a small sum for every living queen ; and the result was 

 that he was able to dispatch to Christchurch, N. Z., a parcel of twenty 

 impregnated queens on the 13th December, 1883, and a lot of sixty on the 

 10th January, 1884. Each queen was packed in dry moss, and placed 

 in a separate box, with a cake of candy in case of the temperature on the 

 voyage rising to such a height as to revivify them, but with instructions 

 to keep them at about 40°. The humble-bees were sent in ships fitted 

 with refrigerators for the carriage of meat, and it was hoped that by 

 maintaining a temperature not exceeding 40° they would remain in a 

 semi-torpid state until their arrival in the colony. The success of the 

 experiment remains to be seen ; but it will be tried on a larger scale at 

 the end of the present year. 



The President said that he had just received the first part of the 

 Transactions of the Huddersfield Naturalists' Society, which contains 

 " A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera found in the Huddersfield District," by 

 Messrs. Mosley and Porritt. The list includes 666 species. In his intro- 

 ductory remarks on the Macro-Lepidoptera, after mentioning that those 

 marked as having been taken by Mr. Inchbald were captured from about 

 1855 to 1870, Mr. Mosley adds :— 



" Many of the latter gentleman's captures were in the district about 

 Storthes Hall, and Mr. Alfred Beaumont and Mr. J. W. Dunning can 

 corroborate many of the records. Since that time great changes have 

 taken place, and the young collector must not now expect to go straight 

 to certain localities and take certain species, for many are now no more. 

 It is very strange to reflect upon a great number of species which, during 

 the period referred to, were common or even abundant in the pastures 

 between Castle Hill and Farnley Tyas, such as several of the Pdnglets, 

 Skippers, Blues, and at other places Burnets and Foresters absolutely 

 swarmed, all of which are now entirely gone." 



The President added that he could certainly corroborate most ol 

 Mr. Inchbald's records, but the last year in which he (Mr. Dunning) 

 collected in the Huddersfield district was 1850; and the extinction of 

 so many common species since that time was certainly remarkable. Thus 

 Anthocharis cardamines, " used to be common behind Castle Hill about 



