11 



Mr. M'Lachlan had found quantities of a Dermestes larva in the timbers of a ship, 

 upon which ihey had fed. Mr. F. Smith had reared Dermestes from timber; and 

 Mr. Janson had often noticed that tbe hirvae would forsake hides and take refuge in 

 the wooden flooring of a building, but this was probably for pupation, not for 

 sustenance. 



Mr. Daniel Hanbury communicated a letter from Dr. Bidie, of tbe Madras Army, 

 respecting the " coffee -borer" of Southern India (see Proc. Eut. Soc. 1867, p. cix); 

 and Mr. F. Smith mentioned that in Chevrolat's collection in the British Museum 

 there was a single specimen, labelled Xylotrechus quadripes, which seemed to be 

 identical with tbe insect recently received from India. 



With reference to Mr. Stainton's larva of a Tinea found feeding in an antelope's 

 horn (Proc. Ent, Soc. 1867, p. cv.), Mr. Bond mentioned that a similar case was 

 recorded by Mr. Haliday in the Proc. Dublin Univ. Zool. Soc. 1856: see Dublin 

 Nat. Hist. Review, vol. iii. p. 23, pi. i. 



Mr. Bond also exhibited a specimen of Bombyx quercus, in which the colours of 

 the male and female were combined. 



Dr. Wallace exhibited two British-born specimens of the Japanese oak-feeding 

 Bombyx Yamamai, one reared by Mr. Gascoyne at Newark, tbe other by Mr. 

 Shoolbred at Wolverhampton ; and some eggs laid by Mr. Gascoyne's specimen. Also 

 specimens of Bombyx Pernyi, a Chinese oak-feeding species, which he hoped would 

 be naturalized in this country. Also, an imago and cocoon of Pachypusa efl'usa from 

 Graham's Town, an acacia-feeder, from which an attempt was being made in South 

 Africa to obtain silk, though the nature of the cocoon gave little promise of a favour- 

 able result. Dr. Wallace made some observations on the progress of sericiculture, as 

 well of mulberry silk as of Ailanthus silk, at the Cape of Good Hope and in Australia ; 

 and expressed his opinion that, although he found the air of the Eastern Counties of 

 England too dry for Bombyx Yamamai, that species would probably succeed better in 

 tbe cool and moist climates of Ireland or Scotland. 



Dr. Gray communicated the following extract from a letter received by him from 

 Dr. George Bennett, dated " Sydney, 21 October, 1867":-— 



" We have had, since the 14tb of September, a wonderful flight of moths in Sydney 

 and the vicinity, extending inland fourteen to twenty-five miles, and along the coast 

 in clouds, from Newcastle seventy-five miles north, to Kiama eighty-eight miles south 

 of Sydney: in those places they have swarmed in legions, proving a perfect pest. 

 They are of the family Noctuidee, and you may recollect that in my 'Wanderings 

 in New South Wales' vol. i. p. 265, I mentioned a moth of the genus Agrotis, 

 probably A. spina, which congregates in November, December and January, about 

 masses of granite on the Bugong range of mountains. The moth of which this year 

 we have such multitudes is, I consider, of the same genus as the Bugong, and is a 

 large dark-coloured insect, very prettily marked ; whether a new species I will leave 

 you to determine: it is recognized by the colonists as a well-known visitor, but rarely 

 in such multitudes and never to so wide an extent as during this time. Every house 

 and public building is infested with them, clinging in swarms to the corners, behind 

 shutters, or in any hollow space where they can congregate: this occurs to a greater 

 extent in the suburbs tban in tbe city. On the first morning following their arrival 

 they occasioned great alarm and annoyance, for on opening the shutters the servants 



