30 
regard to the malformation of the right antenna as exhibited in the present instance, 
an exactly similar case was remarked by M. Buquet in another Coleopterous insect 
belonging to the Buprestidae (Julodis Clovei, from Abyssinia), and notified by that 
gentleman in the Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., accompanied by a figure (Ser. 2, vol. i. pl. iv. 
[iii], fig. 1). It is in vain, I think, to suggest any cause for such an extraordinary 
freak of nature, and I must therefore content myself with merely recording the fact.” 
Mr. Stainton exhibited the pupa of Anchinia verrucella, one of the Tineina, which 
in its angular form, and mode of suspension from its tail and ioe means of ra round 
the body, resembled the pupa of a Pieris. 
Dr. Alexander Wallace exhibited specimens, sent him by M. Guerin-Meneville, of i] 
the silk produced by Bombyx Cynthia fed upon the Ailanthus; the specimens included 
silk carded from the cocoon, spun silk, woven silk, and a skein of Ailanthine spun from 
the cocoon in one continuous thread. Dr, Wallace said that he was engaged ina 
series of experiments with a view to the introduction into this country of the cultiva- 
tion of the wild silk-worms, from which it was hoped that the deficiency of the supply 
of the silk of Bombyx Mori might be made up; he had planted a railway-embankment 
near Colchester with the Ailanthus, which was found to be very hardy, and he had 
preserved larve of B. Cynthia through a temperature of 32° Fahr. 
Prof. Westwood expressed a fear that an out-door colony of silk-worms would not 
succeed in this country so well as M. Guerin-Meneville’s; the existence of small birds, 
which were practically extinct in France, would make a great difference in the result 
of the experiment. 
Mr. Newman remarked, with reference to the alleged deficiency of silk, that there 
was no dearth of that article, that the English and French markets were overstocked, 
and that silk which five or six years ago was worth thirty shillings a pound was now 
not worth more than twenty-two shillings a pound. 
Prof. Westwvod said that, however that might be, the quantity of silk produced in 
France was diminished by one-third; and Dr. Wallace added that in many parts of 
France the mulberry was being destroyed, and the vine planted in its stead. 
. Prof. Westwood exhibited some extremely minute Acarideous insects, which he 
had received from Mr, Chapman, of Glasgow, who had observed them in vast numbers 
infesting the unopened buds of black currant trees, which they entirely destroyed by 
withering up the embryo blooms. These creatures, almost invisible to the naked eye, 
were of an elongated oval form, with an oval head and two pairs of short legs porrected 
in front of the body, the penultimate joint of each emitting a long bristle; the 
extremity of the body was obtuse, and also emitted two bristles, and the body itself 
was marked with very numerous transverse rows of minute dark dots. These creatures 
were also found dead in vast numbers on the inner surface of the sheathing-leaves of 
the dried-up buds. On one of the diseased buds were also found several specimens of 
a full-grown Acarus belonging to the genus Nothrus, and evidently forming a new 
species distinct from any figured by Koch. The genus, or rather subgenus, Nothrus 
forms part of the group Oribata, but Prof. Westwood was inclined to believe that the 
minute creatures were not the young of the Nothrus, but of some species of Tetrany- 
chus, some of the species of which are found upon trees, spinning extensive webs, as is 
the case with T. telarius. The only other recorded instance of a four-legged state of 
individuals among the Acaride occurred in the closely allied form figured by Dugés 
in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 2nd series, vol. ii. pl. II. A, under the name 
of the “ Acarien du galle de Tilleul,” found in galls on the leaves of the lime-tree, 
