XC11. 



creatures, which form many-chambered shells, of which some 

 resemble small Ammonites. His work is worthy of the dis- 

 tinguished scientific family to which it belongs, headed by his 

 uncle, Lord Lister, whose discoveries have been of such 

 immense benefit to mankind. As you are aware, we have the 

 honour of including his father and sister amongst our Members. 

 Coming next to insects, I have to record the discovery, by Mr. 

 Gervase Matthew, a visitor to Dorset, of a plume-moth new to 

 Britain, Stenoptilia graphodactyla, bred from marsh gentian 

 ( Gentiana pneumonanthe] in the neighbourhood of Wimbome. It 

 has been found that white ants in Ceylon cultivate in their 

 nests a small white fungus on which they feed, thus imitating 

 the better-known habits of some true ants. A very remarkable 

 new leaf-winged grasshopper is described from Costa Rica, 

 which not only has its wings veined and coloured to resemble a 

 dried leaf, but the edges of the wing are crenulated and deeply 

 hollowed out here and there, as if a caterpillar had been eating 

 it. The issue of a bulletin of the " Laws against Injurious 

 Insects and Foul Brood in the United States" suggests that 

 some such laws in our own country might be of advantage. For 

 instance, there would probably be no great difficulty in exter- 

 minating warble-flies, which are a source of considerable loss to 

 the farmer through the damage to the hides caused by the 

 perforations made in them by the larvae. These larvae are easily 

 killed whilst in the backs of the cows, either by pricking 

 them or by the use of a suitable insecticide, and if this was 

 universally done for a few years warbles would become exceed- 

 ingly rare. But farmers will not take the trouble unless 

 compelled. Some even, in this part of the country, consider 

 their presence a sign of health ! but, if numerous, they cause 

 much suffering and deterioration of milk. In Derbyshire I 

 found that they understood and waged war against them. To 

 show how much there is still left to discover in the world I 

 may allude to the fact that some moss lately brought from 

 British Guiana contained no less than 40 new species of 

 Orobatida* These are the tiny hemispherical mites, generally 



