The Zoologist— April, 1867. 713 



of time after landing when the insect generally appears varies from a few weeks to 

 several months. In the recent case at Secunderabad the casks when landed at 

 Masulipatam were in perfect order, so much so that they attracted special notice: 

 when they arrived at Secunderabad there was no trace of the insect, but after they had 

 been a very short time in store the insects made their appearance, and continue to 

 increase. Many causes have been brought forward as predisposing casks to the 

 attacks of this insect. The first and most important is the use of unseasoned wood in 

 making the casks. Committees were assembled at Calcutta some years ago to inves- 

 tigate the cause of the attacks of this insect, and its presence was ascribed by them 

 also to the use of unseasoned wood in the casks. The fact that the use of unsuitable 

 wood predisposes the casks to the attacks of these insects is not unlikely. It is well 

 known in India that, if bamboos are cut at a certain season when the sap is in them, 

 they will be assuredly attacked by the borer, whilst bamboos cut from the same spot 

 at a proper time will as certainly be free from them. It has also been stated that a 

 long inland journey by cart or boat tends much to cause the increase of the insect. It 

 is difficult to give any accurate estimate of the damage caused by these insects. At 

 times they are not very numerous, and by selecting the worst casks for immediate use 

 the wastage is not excessive, but at other times they are so abundant that no amount 

 of care or trouble can keep them under, and in a report last received from Tonghoo 

 the wastage has risen to fifty per cent. The Assistant Commissary-General at Ran- 

 goon states that he has applied a strong infusion of cutch as a remedy to the casks, but 

 that on the following day the insects were as active and vigorous as ever: observing 

 that some salt-meat casks escaped, a strong brine was next thoroughly applied, hut 

 with no better success. Boiling water was afterwards tried, and after three applications 

 was perfectly successful." 



. Mr. Moore added that Tomicus monographus was figured in Ratzeburg, but had 

 not hitherto been found in Britain ; the casks in question were made of oak, but 

 probably not of British growth. 



Mr. Newman exhibited a stem of Salix caprcea, to show the mode in which, under 

 the attacks of Sesia benibeciformis, the bark divides in three layers, as more fully 

 described in the ' Entomologist,' ii. 140. 



Mr. Newman exhibited a specimen of Naclia ancilla, Linn., a moth new to Britain, 

 taken on the Sussex coast by Mr. T. Wildman. 



Mr. Newman exhibited the lock of a door, one of several which in 1866 were found 

 at the Kent Waterworks, Depiford, to be completely filled and choked up with nests 

 of Osmia bicornis, a portion having been forced out by the insertion of the key; the 

 locks were in pretty constaut use, so that the whole nest must have been built in the 

 course of a few days. 



Mr. Newman also exhibited two specimens of a Formica, resembling F.herculanea, 

 which were supposed to have been funnel in decayed pine-stumps in Scotland; but he 

 hesitated to announce it as a new British ant, in consequence of the doubt entertained 

 by Mr. F. Smith. 



Mr. F. Smith thought ihe specimens in question were distinct from Formica 



herculanea, and also from F. pubescens : they appeared to be identical with an ant 



from North America, which had been seut to him from New York as a representative 



of the European F. herculanea, but which in reality was a different insect. An 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. II. 2 B 



