1864.] Zoology and Physiology. 359 
larvee being ejected from the abdomen in rapid succession, and moving 
about with considerable celerity, evidently in search of suitable food 
or shelter. Several other specimens were subsequently obtained, and 
they shortly commenced to deposit their living progeny with rapidity, 
the small white fleshy larvae being seen with great distinctness on the 
black surface of the paper, affording satisfactory proof that this insect, 
the only one of the order at present known, is unquestionably ovo- 
viviparous, and will represent in future this peculiarity among the 
lepidoptera, similarly to those few species existing in the hemipterous 
and dipterous orders. 
The Boston Natural History Society have had an account laid 
before them of the operations of the minute Platygaster, which attack 
the eggs of the canker-worm moth (Anisopteryx vernata). Mr. Scudder, 
the observer, states that after moving round a long while in search of 
a suitable place to lay its eggs, using its ovipositor as a feeler, the 
abdomen is plunged down into the space between three continuous eggs, 
and the ovipositor perforates one of them, out of view. The body of the 
insect assumes a position perpendicular to its exposed surfaces, sup- 
ported in the rear by the wings, which, folded over the back, are 
placed against the surface behind, while the hind legs, spread widely 
apart, sustain the insect on either side, and the middle pair are placed 
nearer together in front. With the four legs dangling it remains 
motionless, except some slight movement of the antenne, for three or 
four minutes, after which it moves off, seldom flying, in search of 
another place. 
At a recent meeting of the Entomological Society a communication 
was read from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, enclosing a 
copy of a circular letter from the Governor of St. Helena respecting the 
ravages committed in the island by the whiteants. It was stated that 
they were (it was supposed) accidentally introduced from the coast of 
Guinea twenty years ago, and now almost every dwelling, shed, store 
in Jamestown, containing 4,000 inhabitants, have been seriously injured 
by them, involving in many instances complete ruin and abandonment, 
and imperilling the lives of large numbers of the poorer classes, who 
are still living in houses of doubtful security. The Governor was 
anxious for information as to the most successful mode of finding the 
ants’ nests, and effectually destroying their receptacles, and as to the 
description of timber which had proved to be least susceptible of 
injury from the insects, and the average market price of such timber 
per cubic foot. General Sir John Hearsey stated that if ever ants 
effected a lodgment in the walls of a house, the walls themselves must 
be taken down before the insects could be eradicated. He thought the 
best preventive was to steep the timber before building in a solution 
of quicklime, and completely saturate it therewith; whilst store- 
boxes, furniture, and small articles should be painted over with a solu- 
tion of corrosive sublimate. Mr. Bates coincided with General Hearsey 
in his estimate of the value of quickliime. The nests must be sought 
for in the plain. Mr. E. W. Robinson said that on the Indian railways 
creosote was applied to the sleepers—but it was not sufficient merely 
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