60 



Mr. Hy. J. Turner referred to the exhibit made by Mr. Jager on 

 July 23rd last of a thread worm which had emerged from the larva 

 of a Citcidlia, and communicated the following note: — 



" These Thread Worms belong to the Natural Order Nenmtoidea, 

 of which the members are mostly internal parasites. The dreaded 

 Trichina, the Filaria or " whip worm," and the small " thread worm " 

 so frequently a parasite of children, are familiar examples of this 

 group of animals. The genus Mennis, to which the worm exhibited 

 probably belongs, has species which are parasitic within the Insecta 

 and at a certain time make their way out by perforating their hosts 

 and hide themselves in the soil. There they reproduce, and the 

 embryos are born viviparously, and pass some time in the ground- 

 They wander in search of an insect host, the caterpillar of a moth 

 or beetle for instance, which they penetrate by means of a sharp 

 stylet that is hidden within the head when not in use. Large 

 numbers of these worms are sometimes found in the soil, and I 

 have seen them on more than one occasion in numbers on the heads 

 of flowers. The genus Gordius, to which the worm was supposed 

 to belong, has a somewhat similar habit, but is found within the 

 bodies of carnivorous water in&ects. These feed upon the larvae of 

 Tipidida and Ejihemeridcc, the primary hosts of the young worm 

 embryos, which arise from the ova laid by the mature worm after 

 it escapes from its final host." 



Mr. Adkin showed a specimen of Aplecta occulta from Rannocb, 

 intermediate in general coloration between the usually dark form 

 obtained from that locality and the light southern type. 



Mr. Morford exhibited a specimen of Colias hyale captured by 

 him at Mickleham on August 20th of this year, and also a 

 specimen of Nisoniades ta(jes taken at the same time and place. 

 The latter was possibly a second brood specimen. 



Mr. West (Greenwich) exhibited specimens of the two local 

 species of Diptera, Cerowys pictus and C. omissus, taken by him in 

 the salt marshes at Great Yarmouth. 



Mr. West (Ashtead) exhibited a specimen of the rare burying 

 beetle, Necrophorus inter Dipt us. There were originally two, but one 

 had devoured the other. 



Mr. Main exhibited a portion of wasp comb containing living 

 larvae and described the feeding of the larvae by the mature wasps. 

 Dr. Chapman said that he occasionally had found a larva in the 

 cells reversed, and suggested that if the comb were placed in a 

 temperature of at least 105° the development of the larvae would 

 proceed more rapidly. He had this year procured some seventeen 



