XXIV 



The wood was believed to be pear-tree. He had recommended soaking the 

 blocks in a mixture of carbolic acid and water. 



Papers read, dc. 



Dr. Sharp communicated " Descriptions of New Genera and Species of 

 Pselaphidse and ScydmfenidiE from Australia and New Zealand." The paper 

 contained descriptions of forty-four new species, three of them belonging to 

 the family Scydmaenidoe. Of the forty-one species of Pselaphidoe, twenty-six 

 were from Australia and fifteen from New Zealand, the latter being the first 

 specimens of Pselaphidre that had, as yet, been obtained from New Zealand. 

 He beheved that the islands would prove to be rich in Pselaphidee, and 

 alluded to the great scientific importance of an accurate knowledge of the 

 New Zealand fauna, and to the special importance of gaining as rapidly as 

 possible a knowledge of the existing Coleoptera, as such knowledge would 

 contribute largely to the solution of many important scientific questions ; 

 and as a large proportion of the species were confined to small areas of 

 distribution there was great reason to fear they would be easily killed out, 

 and thus the fauna itself would disappear with the changes caused by 

 colonization and the cultivation of the soil. 



Mr. Darwin communicated a paper containing remarks by L. .3. Barber, 

 of Griqualand, South Africa, on the colour of the pupa of Papilio Nireus, in 

 connection with the surroundings of its place of attachment, the pupa 

 appearing to assume a protective resemblance to the surface to which it is 

 fixed, and suggesting that some photographic influence might be at work. 

 A discussion ensued, in which Professor Westwood, Mr. M'Lachlan and 

 others took part ; and Mr. Meldola remarked, in reply to Mr. M'Lachlan, 

 that the action of light upon the sensitive skin of a pupa had no analogy 

 with its action on any known photographic chemical. No known sub- 

 stance retained permanently the colour reflected on it by adjacent objects. 

 Mr. Meldola further observed that there was no difficulty in believing 

 that larvffi might become afiected in colour by the colouring matter of the 

 food-plant, since chlorophyll in an unaltered condition had been found in 

 the tissues of green larvae. Facts of this nature did not, however, exclude 

 the possibility of the action of Natural Selection in such cases, for the 

 property of showing the colour of the tissues through the skin, if of 

 advantage to the species, would be preserved through this agency, as already 

 discussed in a paper published in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for February, 1873. 



The Secretary read a letter he had received from Mr. Ogier Ward, 

 enclosing a drawing of a spider's nest, with some remarks thereon by 

 Mr. Charles 0. Waterhouse. Mr. Ward had found the nest attached to 

 some long grass in a quarry near Poissy, on the Seine. Mr. Waterhouse, 

 on examination, found it to be nearly filled with sand, but in the centre he 

 found "a dry, rough, flat piece" attached to the base, which on soaking in 



