C4107 (xiv, xix 
seemed astonishing that the bees should be pursued by the 
males of inquiline flies; but Professor Poulton suggested the 
males in this way find their way to the burrows, where they 
meet the females which have also reached them in the same 
manner, or where more probably they lie in wait for the 
freshly emerging females. 
The Rev. A. E. Earon doubted that the object of the male 
flies following the bees was to be guided to where the female 
flies were likely to be found. He remarked that these Diptera 
frequent the Andrena colonies and have no need to be guided 
to them. And might not these males have chased the bees 
just as Vanesside and Hespertide dart at and pursue any 
Bombus or Pieris that happens to fly past their resort ? 
Professor Poutron considered that the cautious and _per- 
sistent tracking described by Mr. Hamm was inconsistent 
with Mr. Eaton’s suggestion.* 
Wednesday, March 7th, 1906. 
Professor E. B. Povrron exhibited the original African 
Journal written by W. J. Burchell, between May 24 and 
September 2, 1812, both days inclusive. The account of 
this part of his journey occupied the whole of a small note- 
book bound in sheep-skin, and still in the most beautiful con- 
dition. In a lecture before the British Association at Cape 
Town, on August 17 of last year, Professor Poulton had 
* Since the meeting of the Society on February 7th, the two flies have 
been further examined by Mr. J.E. Collin, who writes, Feb. 19th, 1906 :— 
‘* After a microscopical examination I consider them undoubtedly females : 
all Mr. Verrall’s are females, but there is a male among the specimens in 
his European collection from Kowarz.” The two specimens had been 
previously studied with the lens, but not the compound microscope, by 
Col. Yerbury, Mr. E. E. Austen, and Mr. Collin himself; and all three 
Dipterists had then considered them to be males. It is fortunately 
possible to correct the mistake on the very page in which it is printed. 
The story enforces Darwin’s conclusion that errors of fact are more 
dangerous than errors of hypothesis. 
Tlie eyes of these female flies are of a size and relative position which 
seem to imply the male sex. The eyes of male flies in general are 
poe chiefly developed for the pursuit of the female, and it may well 
e that they are similarly formed in these females in order to aid in the 
pursuit of the Hymenopterous host. [E. B. P.] 
