( V ) 



upon the growth of the town and the increase in the number of mills 

 outside it. Moreover, the district inchided in the hst was of small extent, 

 say five or six miles round the town ; if a radius of ten or twelve miles 

 were taken, probably most of the missing species would still be found 

 within those limits. 



Mr. J. Jenner Weir expressed his belief that butterflies were everywhere 

 in Britain considerably scarcer than was the case thirty years ago, and this 

 quite irrespective of the influence of bad seasons. He especially instanced 

 Aporia cratagl, which used to occur in numbers in Sussex, but he had only 

 met with a single specimen since 1840 ; twenty years ago this butterfly was 

 exceedingly common in the New Forest, but now it was almost entirely con- 

 fined to a very few localities in the western part of the forest; he had no 

 doubt Mr. H. Goss, who was present this evening, could fully confirm this. 



Mr. A. E. Hudd said that certainly in the West of England butterflies 

 generally were much rarer than they used to be ; he drove from Bristol 

 to Llangollen last July in beautiful weather, and did not see a single 

 butterfly during the journey. 



Mr. C. O. Waterhouse said these opinions quite expressed his own 

 views as to the rapid decrease in our British butterflies, and he hoped that 

 the publication of these opinions would have some weight in deterring 

 enthusiastic collectors from capturing every possible specimen of any 

 butterfly they might meet with. 



The Secretary read the following report : — 



To the Council of the Entomological Society of London. 



"Gentlemen, — We the undersigned, re-appointed a Committee to 

 further examine into and report upon the supposed presence of Phylloxera 

 vastatrix on vines in the Colony of Victoria, have the honour to present 

 the following Keport : — 



"In a former Report, submitted to the Council on June 1st, 1881, 

 we, and our colleague, Mr. Roland Triraen (who is no longer in England), 

 stated that the evidence then before us did not appear conclusive as to the 

 existence of Phylloxera in the Colony, and we urged that the Colonial 

 authorities should forward to the Society specimens of the creatures 

 (believed in the colony to be Phylloxercp), mounted as microscopic slides ; 

 and also vine-roots, supposed to be attacked, preserved in alcohol. The 

 latter has lately been done, and two bottles, containing such roots, have 

 been received through Sir Joseph D. Hooker, K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S., &c., 

 accompanied by a copy of a letter dated ' Melbourne, '24th September, 

 1883,' from the Hon. James Service, Premier of Victoria. 



"We have carefully examined these roots, and regret to be obliged to 

 report that the Phylloxera is undoubtedly present upon them, and in 

 some numbers. 



