Entomological Society. 9557 



to upwards of 10,000 or even 11,000 feet, it would be interesting to learn if insect-life 

 in any form co-exists with them. A mammal, Arvicola nivalis, is found, I believe, at 

 tbe bigbest point of phanerogamic vegetation." 



In reply to enquiries, the President added that tbe insects in the snow were all 

 dark in colour, that tbe holes were on tbe slope of the mountain on which the sun was 

 shining directly, and that ihey were truly cylindrical, not hemispherical, or narrowed 

 at the bottom. His explanation of the phenomenon did not meet with general 

 acceptance; it was objected ihat radiation was scarcely likely to produce a cylindrical 

 excavation ; and Mr. A. R. Wallace doubted whether an insect of so small bulk and 

 mass, and which could only give off by radiation the heat which it bad first absorbed, 

 was capable, even though of dark colour, of absorbing sutficient to produce the con- 

 siderable melting of the snow around it which the President had described. 



Prof. Westwood directed attention to Karsten's recently-published ' Beitrag zur 

 Kenntniss des Ehyncboprion penetrans,' and protested against ihe generic appellation 

 there applied to the Chigoe or Jigger. Liuiiteus was uncertain to what genus to refer 

 tbe insect, and Latreille suggested that a new genus was probably required for its 

 reception ; the Rev. Lansdown Guilding bad iu MS. assigned to it the name Sarco- 

 phaga, which, however, had been previously employed amongst the Dipteia. In a 

 paper in the ' Transactions' of this Society (vol. ii. p. 199), Prof. Westwood bad him- 

 self first given the generic characters and published tbe name Sarcopsylhi ; Diiges had 

 about the same written on the Jigger, but referred it to the genus Pulex, and Guerin- 

 Meneville, in tbe interval between the reading (May 1, 1837) and tbe publication 

 (1840) of bis (Prof. W.'s) paper, had on the plates of the ' Icouographie du Regne 

 Animal' employed the name Devmatophilus, but his description was not published till 

 long afterwards. The name Sarcopsylla was entitled to stand, according to the rule 

 of priority, and Prof. Karsteu was not justified in rejecting it, and falling back upon 

 Rhynchopriou, which had been formerly used for a genus of Acari. Prof. Westwood 

 also took credit to himself for having first shown that tbe Jigger was oviparous, not 

 larviparous or pupiparous; Prof. Karsten had now shown bow the sexes might be dis- 

 tinguished before tbe female became gravid: the ' Beitrag' also contained elaborate 

 details of tbe structure and anatomy of the Jigger, but it did not contaiti one word on 

 the generic arrangement, nor did it add one single fact to the natural history of the 

 species. He (Prof. W.) was anxious to know what became of the eggs after they were 

 deposited (say) in the toe of a human being? where did they hatch? and where and 

 upon what did the larvae feed ? There could not be room for all the numerous eggs to 

 develope in such a situation as above supposed ; and moreover, in tbe vast majority of 

 instances the eggs could not be deposited in flesh at all. 



Mr. Bates bad had personal experience of tbe attacks of tbe Jigger, but was unable 

 to answer the Professor's enquiries ; the common belief was that the body of the female 

 burst within the toe, that tbe eggs hatched therein, and that the larvee fed upon the 

 flesh ; but be had never had anything but eggs (no larvae or pupa;) extracted from his 

 own person ; if during the process of extraction the body of the female burst, he had 

 always applied tobacco-juice to prevent any ill efi'ect. 



Paper read. 

 Mr. Bates read a paper " On the Species of Agra of the Amazons Region." 

 In the introduction, the author treats of tbe affinities and describes the habits of 

 this arboreal genus of Carabidae peculiar to Tropical America, and then proceeds lo 



