3962 The Zoologist— April, 1874. 



best security against the pest; but, as it had been stated that the insects 

 when crushed produced blisters on the skin, wheuever they came in con- 

 tact, and if they touched a wound caused severe inflammation and painful 

 ulcers, Mr. Bates expressed a doubt as to whether the small birds would 

 care to meddle with them. It was, however, a matter deserving of serious 

 consideration, and any practical suggestions for the destruction of the insect 

 would be desirable. 



March 2, 1874. — Sir Sidney Smith Saunders, C.M.G., President, in 

 the chair. 



Donations to the Library. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the 

 donoi-s : — ' The Journal of the Linnean Society,' no. 57 ; presented by the 

 Society. ' Bulletin de la Socicte Linneenne de Normandie,' 2e Sen, t. vi. ; 

 by the Society. ' Bullettino della Societa Entomologica Italiana,' t. t., 

 trim. 4 ; by the Society. ' The Canadian Entomologist,' vol. vi. no. 1 ; by 

 the Editor. ' Newman's Entomologist' and the ' Zoologist' for March ; by 

 the Editor. ' The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ' for March ; by the 

 Editors. ' L'Abeille, 1874,' Go livr. ; by the Editor. ' A Synonymic List of 

 British Lepidoptera,' by Henry Doubleday, Second Edition, with Supple- 

 ment, 1873 ; by J. W. Dunning, Esq. 



Exhibitions, dc. 



Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited two male examples of an Orthopterous insect 

 belonging to the family Locustidffi, which had been placed in his hands by 

 Mr. Daniel Haubury, who received them some years since from his brother 

 at Shanghai. It appeared from Mr. Ilanbury's statements that these 

 insects were sold in the streets of Shanghai, confined in little ornamental 

 wicker cages, and bought for the sound they produced. The species 

 appeared to be undescribed, and to pertain to a new genus, somewhat 

 allied to Xiphidium. The President remarked that in Turkey a kind of 

 cricket was kept in a similar manner in paper cages and fed upon lettuce- 

 leaves. 



Mr. M'Lachlan also exhibited a series of examples illustrating the natural 

 history of Oniscigaster Wakefieldi from New Zealand, described and figured 

 by him from the female imago, in the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine,' 

 X. pp. 108—110 (October, 1873). He had now received from Mr. Wake- 

 field a second series of specimens, including the male imago, female sub- 

 imago, adult nymph and larva. The lateral wing-like horny expansions of 

 the terminal segments of the abdomen in the imago and sub-imago are 

 continued in the aquatic conditions on each segment of the abdomen, and 

 in addition there are similar formations along the back of the abdomen 

 placed longitudinally and vertically. 



