7728 Etttoinoloyicul Sociely. 



was liuly parasitic upon the howling monkeys, as he had killed one of those animals 

 and found its body infested with a number of apparently the same kind of larvse. 

 What a curious illustration does this statement afford, if correct, of the relationship 

 of man and the monkey !) 



Dr. Knaaigs exiiil)ite(l a box of Australian Coleoptera, collected in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sidney by Dr. Pittar. 



Dr. Knaggs also exhibited a series of Nonagria (i") Bondii, of which several spe- 

 cimens were females ; and a specimen of Acidalia strigilata, for the first time iu this 

 country, bred by himself from the etjg; also both sexes of Acentiopus niveus, and 

 made the following statements in support of the opinion that this species belongs to 

 the order Lepidoptera : — " First, that it appeared from the beginning until the third 

 week in Jime; that it then disappeared, or nearly so, for about a month, when it 

 again niiide its appearance; which was precisely his experience of Paraponyx slratio- 

 talis, &c. Secondli/, that the eggs of Acenlropus were laid on the setting-boards as, 

 and had a most striking resemblance to, those of P. stratiotalis (eggs of both species 

 were exhibited). Thirdly, that although ils usual habit, when flying, was to keep 

 close to the surface of the water, as Psyche does to land, yet, like Psyche also, he 

 had occasionally seen it mount perpendicularly into the air, rising higher and higher 

 until lost to si,i,'bt. Fourt hi i/, thut when ' boxed ' it rubbed its thorax in true Lepi- 

 dopterous fishion." 



Mr. WLachlan and other members present remarked that the observations of 

 Dr. Knaggs, relative to the flight of this species and its liability to injure itself when 

 confined in a pill-box, would ajjply equally well to many of the Phiyganidse. 



Mr. Shepherd read a letter from Mr. G. King, announcing the capture of speci- 

 mens of Leucania putrescens at Torquay. 



The Secretary read a communication from Lord Dunsany, dated from Navan, 

 Ireland, August 2nd, 1861, accompanying specimens of ihe larva of Biston hirtarius, 

 and stating that these caterpillars were first nolited in that neighbourhood in 1858, 

 but in small numbers ; in 1859 (a remarkably dry season) they were very numerous ; 

 in 1860 none were seen; but this year, the spring having been dry, they have 

 appeared in immense numbers, and at the present time plantations of large ash trees 

 are stripped of their leaves by them as completely as ihey would be iu mid-winter. 

 —E.S. 



Ants the Inventors of the Tubular Bridge. — When, on their line of march, 

 the gray bashikouay ants of Equatorial Africa require to cross a narrow stream, they 

 throw themselves across and form a tunnel — a living tunnel— connecting two trees 

 or high bushes on opposite sides of the little stream, whenever they can find such to 

 facilitate the operation. This is done with great speed, and is effected by a great 

 number of ants, each of which clings with its four claws to its next neighbour's body 

 or hind claws. Thus they form a high, safe, tubular bridge, through which the whole 

 vast regiment marches in regular order. If disturbed, or if the arch is broken by the 

 violence of some animal, they instantly attack the offender with the greatest animosity. 

 — Du Chaillu's ' Explorations,^ p. 313. 



