THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 235 
Extracts from the Proceedings of the Entomological Society 
of London. 
AuGusT 2, 1876. 
Sir Sidney S. Saunders, C.M.G., Vice-President, in the chair. 
Ravages of Locusts in Spain.—A letter was read from 
T. V. Lister, Esq., of the Foreign Office, transmitting, for the 
information of the Entomological Society, a copy of a 
despatch from Sir John Walsham, Her Majesty’s Chargé 
d@ Affaires at Madrid, relative to the plague of locusts, 
together with a box containing specimens of the insect, and 
a number of earthen egg-cases, each containing from thirty 
to forty eggs. The despatch stated that the Official Report, 
showing the progress of the plague and the steps taken to 
exterminate the insect, had not yet been published, but a 
copy would be sent to the Society in a few weeks. It was 
said that the damage done by the locusts this year was 
considerably less than that of last year, owing to the number 
of soldiers which the Government had been enabled to 
employ since the war was over to assist the inhabitants of 
the districts, where the plague existed, in destroying the 
insects. The insects sent were stated to be specimens of 
Locusta migratoria; but on examination they were ascertained 
to be the Locusta albifrons, Fab. (Decticus albifrons, Savigny). 
Dragonfly infested by Red Parasite-—Mr. M‘Lachlan 
exhibited a series of thirteen examples of a dragonfly (Diplax 
meridionalis, Se/ys), recently taken by him in the Alps 
of Dauphiné, between Grenoble and Briangon (the exact 
locality being near the village of La Grave, at the base 
of the Aiguille du Midi), remarkable for the extent to which 
nearly all were infested by the red parasite described by De 
Geer as Acarus libellule (perhaps a species of Trombidium). 
Of the thirteen examples captured casually only one was free 
from parasites, the number of them on the others being 
respectively 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 28, 47, 51, 73, 96, and 111, or 
a total of 481 on twelve individuals. They were firmly fixed 
on the nervures towards and at the base of the wing, almost 
invariably on the under side; but whatever might be the 
number on any particular dragonfly it was always divided 
nearly symmetrically on the two sides of the insect,—those 
much infested having a very pretty appearance, from the 
wings looking as if spotted with blood-red. He had no 
