62 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



sented by 10-3; Pollux 11; Procyon 12; Sirius 20; the fall 

 moon 3000 ; whence it appears incidentally that it would take 

 the light of 400 moons to equal that of the sun — a result very 

 different from those hitherto obtained, which are however alto- 

 gether discordant among themselves. Bouguer, for instance, 

 gave the proportion 300,000 ; Robert Smith 90,000 ; Lambert 

 277,000; Wollaston 801,072. In speaking of a somewhat 

 similar case, Sir John Herschel has observed that " discordances 

 of this kind will startle no one conversant with photometry." 

 But they evidently imply the necessity of further research : and 

 whatever may be the comparative value of Mr. Clark's experi- 

 ments (which could hardly have been undertaken by a more 

 competent observer), they must be acknowledged to be an im- 

 portant move in the right direction. 



OCCULTATIOK 



A single occultation only will be conveniently visible during 

 the month of February. 20th, 60 Cancri, 6 mag., will disap- 

 pear from 6h. 32m. to 7h. 34m. 



PROCEEDINGS OP LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



BY W. B. TEGETMEIER. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— Jaw. 4. 



Introduction of White Ants into St. Helena. — A communi- 

 cation was read from the Lords of the Admiralty requesting the 

 advice of the society as to the best means of securing the destruction 

 of the white ants which had been introduced into James Town 

 twenty years since, from the Coast of Guinea. Since which time 

 they have multiplied to so great an extent as to have seriously 

 injured every building in the town, and to have reduced some to 

 such a state of ruin as to compel the inhabitants entirely to abandon 

 them. General Sir John Hearsey related his experience respecting 

 the white ants in India, and stated that if they once gained access 

 to a house their eradication was generally regarded as impossible, 

 unless the house was taken down and rebuilt. He suggested 

 the steeping of the timber in a solution of quick lime ; but as this 

 wiiii Id rapidly become converted into carbonate of lime by exposure 

 to the air, it does not offer much promise of success. For small 

 articles General Hearsey recommended a solution of corrosive sub- 

 limate. Mr. H. W. Bates, who has had much experience respecting 

 1 1 use insects in the forests of South America, stated that they did 

 not attack houses, furniture, or store boxes, constructed of a very 

 hard wood called Acapu, and that it was customary to protect boxes, 

 etc., of softer wood by raising them on blocks of acapu. When 



