19 



distinct in its larva state from any hiiherto described which is found in the human 

 body. 



(Since the exhibition of the specimens in qnestion Mr. Bates has informed 

 Professor VVestwood that whilst on the Amazons he was attacked by one of these 

 CEstrideous larvae, which formed a tumour upon the calf of his leg, which sup- 

 purated, and the scar of which is still visible. He had also extracted one from the 

 fleshy part of the back of a negro girl who helped in his house. He was induced to 

 believe that the species was only an accidental intruder in such a position, and that it 

 was truly 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 larvae. 

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

 of man and the monkey I) 



Dr. KnasTgs exhibited a box of Australian Coleoptera, collected in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sidney by Dr. Pittar. 



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

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

 country, bred by himself from the egg; also both sexes of Acentropus 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 June; that it then disappeared, or nearly so, for about a month, when it 

 again made its appearance ; which was precisely his experience of Paraponyx stratio- 

 talis, &c. Secondly, that the e^rgs of Acentropus 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 its 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 sight. Fourthly, that when ' boxed ' it rubbed its thorax in true Lepi- 

 dopterous fashion." 



Mr. M'Lachlan 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 apply equally well to many of the Phryganidae. 



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 the larva of Biston hirtarius, 

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

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

 in I860 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 they would be in mid-winter. 



