185 



January 4, 1864. 

 Feedertck Smith, Esq., President, in the chair. 



Donations to the Library. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors: 

 — ' Sitzungsberichte der Konigl. bayer Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Miinnchen,' 

 1863, Heft 4 ; presented by the Akademie. Hewitson's ' Exotic Butterflies,' Part 49; 

 by W. W. Saunders, Esq. 'The Entomologist's Annual' for 1864 ; by the Editor. 

 « The Zoologist ' for January ; by the Editor. ' The Intellectual Observer,' No. 24; 

 by the Publishers. ' The Athenaeum ' for December ; by the Editor. ' The Journal 

 of the Society of Arts' for December; by the Society. 'The Reader' for December; 

 by the Editor. 



The following addition by purchase was also announced : — ET. von Kiesenwetter, 

 ' Naturgeschichte der Insecten Deutschlands.' Erste Abtheilg. Vol. iv. Part 4. 



New Member. 

 Herr G. Semper, of Altona, was ballotted for and elected a Foreign Member. 



Alteration of Bye-Laws. 



A. requisition, presented to the President and Council, signed by six Members, was 

 read; and it was announced that, in compliance therewith, a Special General Meeting: 

 would be held on the 25th of January, 1864, at 7 p. m., for the consideration of certain 

 alterations in the Bye-Laws specified in the Requisition, and which were taken as read 

 to the Meeting. 



Exhibitions, 8fC, 



The Secretary read a communication from the Lords Commissioners of the 

 Admiralty, enclosing a copy of a circular letter from the Governor of St. Helena, 

 respecting the ravages committed in that island by white ants. It was therein stated 

 that the insects were, it is supposed, accidentally introduced from the coast of Guinea 

 about twenty years since ; that almost every dwelling, store, or shed, in Jamestown, 

 containing nearly 4000 inhabitants, has been seriously injured by them, involving, in 

 many instances, complete ruin and abandonment, and imperilling the lives of large 

 numbers of the poorer classes, who are still living in houses of doubtful security : the 

 Governor was especially anxious for detailed information as to the most successful 

 mode of finding the ants' nests and effectually destroying those receptacles, and as to 

 the description of timber which has proved to be the least susceptible of injury from 

 the insect, and the average market price of that timber at per cubic foot. 



Gen. Sir J. Hearsey, after detailing some of his own experiences in connexion with 

 white ants in India, said that the nests must be sought in the plains, for if once the ants 

 effected a lodgment in the walls of a house, the walls themselves must be taken down 

 before the insects could be eradicated. He thought the best preventative of their 

 attacks was to steep the timber, before building, in a solution of quick-lime, and com- 

 pletely saturate it therewith ; whilst store-boxes, furniture, and small articles should 

 be painted or coated over with a solution of corrosive sublimate. 



