82 THE entomologist's eecord. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held Feb- 

 ruary 15th, Mr. B. A. Bower exhibited perfectly black, melanic examples 

 of Boantiia ahietaria, Hb., bred from ova laid by a female of the ordinary 

 Box Hill form, which was captm-ed on July 9th, 1897. They 

 were part of a brood of seventeen, seven of which were of the black 

 aberration ; and for comparison Avith them, he showed specimens from 

 Box Hill, South Devon, and the New Forest. 



At the same meeting Mr. Blandford exhibited some lumps of common 

 salt burrowed by larva? of Dcniiesti's ndjufiiis, to which he had incidentally 

 referred in a letter just published in Xatitre. They were sent to him by 

 Sir H. T. Wood, Secretary of the Society of Arts, who received them from 

 a correspondent writing from a preserved-meat factory in Australia. It 

 was a mistake to suppose, as this correspondent had done, that the 

 larvae burrowed in the salt for the sake of obtaining food ; he himself 

 had on various occasions called attention to the depredations of Dcnncstf.'^ 

 ndjii litis, arising from a habit the larvi« had of burrowing through 

 different materials in order to find a shelter in which to undergo pup- 

 ation, though this was the first time that salt, as a substance attacked 

 in that way, had come under his notice. ]\Ir. J. J. Walker, in remark- 

 ing upon the exhibit, said he believed one of the earliest references to 

 injuries caused by Dcniiestt's was to be found in " The last Voyage of 

 Thomas Candish," published in Hakluyt's Collection of Yoijaiio^, 

 where there was an interesting, though someAvhat exaggerated, account 

 of certain worms which, bred from a stock of dried Penguins, 

 proceeded to devour the whole of the ship's stores and then to gnaw 

 into the timbers, creating great alarm lest the ship should spring a 

 leak. This voyage took place in the year 1593 ; and the worms he 

 thought could only have been the larvte of Deniu'sti's nilpintis, or some 

 closely allied species. 



At the meeting of the City of London Ent. Society held on 

 February 21st, a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. H. IMassey, 

 F.E.S., of Didsbury, Manchester, for an exceedingly generous dona- 

 tion towards the publication fund of that society. 



From the Report of the Council of the Entom. Society of London 

 for last year, it appears that during 1898 the society lost three Fellows 

 by death and eight by resignation, while three Honorary Fellows and 

 thirty-four Ordinary Fellows were elected. This is the largest addition 

 to the society's ranks in any year, except 1886, when thirty-five were 

 elected, several of whom were, how^ever, old members who be- 

 came Fellows when the Society obtained its Charter. The number 

 of Fellows now stands at 424, of whom twelve are Honorary. The 

 Traii-iactioas for the year form a volume of 444 pp., comprising 

 twenty-two papers, contributed by nineteen authors, and illustrated by 

 nineteen plates. The library had been largely augmented during the 

 year by the bequest of the late Mrs. H. T. Stainton of such books in 

 her husband's large entomological library as were not previously in 

 the society's possession. The editorial staff of the Knt. Record obtained, 

 p3rhap3, rather more than its usual share of Fellows, and have 

 already made a good start for the present year. We consider that 

 every reader of this magazine should be a Fellow of the Entomological 

 So3iety of London, and a member of the South London and City of 

 London Entomolosfical Societies. 



