124 [Proc. B.N. F. C, 



1 886, is an old enemy. From a paper by the late Robert Pat- 

 terson, F.R.S-, published in T840, I find that exactly one hun- 

 dred years ago there was a similar alarm lest it should be im- 

 ported from America, and that the Privy Council sat day by 

 day debating how to ward off the calamity. Fortunately, on 

 its appearance here this insect brought all his known enemies 

 with him, and Miss Ormerod has hatched out specimens of the 

 whole seven parasites which infest him. It is interesting to 

 note that they are all Russian, and though heretofore we did 

 not know the country of which he was a native, we now find it 

 by the company he keeps. 



There are many other matters to which I would like to have 

 called your attention, but I have already trespassed too far 

 upon your time, and must apologise for the somewhat inordi- 

 nate length of this address, and for having introduced into it 

 many topics which do not appear to be quite cognate to the 

 objects of our Club. I think, however, that their connection is 

 not quite so remote as it might seem to be. The progress of 

 mechanical science has given us largely increased facilities for 

 travel, and has tended to open up unexplored and undeveloped 

 countries, to which British civilisation and commerce may be 

 extended, and as that extension proceeds, the opportunities 

 afforded for the investigation of the physical configuration, 

 geological structure, and natural products of these countries, 

 and of comparing them with those of our own, become greater ; 

 while, on the other hand, the researches of naturalists who 

 have gone off as pioneers to these far off lands have shown the 

 commercial advantages to be gained by their being opened up 

 to British trade. Central Africa has been made known to us 

 by the travels of Livingstone and Stanley. The Congo, one of 

 the largest water-ways of the world, has been investigated, 

 showing a reach of navigable water 1,068 miles long, from Leo- 

 poldsville to Stanley Falls. The great affluents already ex- 

 plored give a total of 6,000 miles of water-way accessible from 

 the former place, and this may possibly be increased by further 

 exploration. 



