viii Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



Ordinary Monthly Meeting. 



Wednesday , February 26, 1896. 

 Mr. W. H. Finlay, M.A., F.B.A.S., in the Chair. 



Dr. Gilchrist, Professor Jas. Holm, and the Eev. Dr. Kolbe 

 were elected ordinary members of the Society. 



The undermentioned presents were announced, and the thanks of 

 the Society voted to the donors : 



Vierteljahrschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zurich, 

 Vierzigsten Jahrgang, drittes und viertes Heft. 



Bulletin du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 1895, No. 7. 



Description of an Artificial Eye intended for the Study of Opthal- 

 moscopy, and the Objective Determination of Ametropia, by 

 C. A. Oliver, M.D., of Philadelphia. 



Geological Survey of Canada, Maps, 3 Packets. 



Dr. Purcell exhibited sections of spiders' eyes, to illustrate his 

 paper read at the last meeting. 



Mr. Garwood Alston exhibited a mass of heavy black rock found 

 at Kenhardt, and formerly thought to be an aerolite, as no similar 

 rock is found in the neighbourhood. 



He also exhibited seed capsules of Acanthus, which split and dis- 

 tribute the seeds when moistened with water. 



Mr. Eaffray communicated a paper on the Bselaphidce of South 

 Africa, in which he recorded 76 species. In the Cape Peninsula 

 there were found 16 genera, of which 10 genera and 45 species were 

 peculiar to the locality. In Natal there were 12 genera, of which 

 1 genus and 14 species were peculiar. In Mashonaland 6 genera. 

 The result of an exhaustive study of these beetles confirmed the 

 opinion derived from other animals and plants, that whereas the 

 Natal fauna and flora are common to the whole of the East Coast of 

 Africa, yet the Cape Peninsula formed a little province of its own, 

 most of its plants and animals being peculiar to itself. 



Mr. Peringuey exhibited some specimens of the Natal locust, 

 which had succumbed to a natural disease similar to that investigated 

 by Pasteur in the silkworms called " Muscardine," and produced 

 by a fungus of Bothritis Bassiana. He had previously described the 

 presence of devouring ichneumon-fly maggots in the eggs of the 

 locusts, so that it seemed probable that, with the artificial propaga- 

 tion of both of these enemies of the locust, they might be able to 

 carry on a successful destruction of the plague. 



Dr. Corstorphine exhibited casts made by Dr. Schonland of two 



