MEETINGS OE SOCIETIES. 33 



Are there any Freshwater Crayfish in Fiji. — A freshwater 

 crayfish belonging to the same genus as those from New Zealand 

 — Paranephrops — is said to be found in Fiji, and is mentioned by 

 Professor Huxley in his paper on Freshwater Crayfish in the 

 "Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1878," p. 770. The statement 

 appears to rest on specimens in the British Museum, and Professor 

 Walter Faxon in his "Revision of the Astacida;," suggests that the 

 locality-labels are perhaps erroneous. For some years past I have been 

 watching for an opportunity to get specimens from Fiji if possible, so 

 as to settle the question, but it was not till this year that I could bear 

 of anyone to collect for me. Through Professor Hutton I then became 

 acquainted by correspondence with Mr. H. H. Thiele of Nansori, Fiji, 

 and this gentleman very kindly set to work at once to collect for me, 

 and I received a bottle of specimens from him in August last. 

 Unfortunately, howeA'er, these specimens turned out to be Freshwater 

 Prawns or Shrimps (Palaemon), not Crayfish {Paranephrops), so that 

 they were of no use in settling the particular question at issue. 

 However it seems that Freshwater Crayfish must undoubtedly exist in 

 Fiji, for in October, 1889, Major W. G. Mair kindly wrote to me to 

 say that his late brother, H. A. Mair, who is well known as a keen 

 observer and collector in Natural History, had lived for some years in 

 Fiji, principally in Ovalau and Yiti-Levu, and had caught Crayfish in 

 the mountain streams of these places, which appeared to him to be 

 identical with those found in Rotorua, Kotoiti, and other lakes of the 

 North Island. If any of the readers of the " New Zealand Journal of 

 Science " can give me any further information on the matter, or can get 

 specimens for me I shall be much indebted to them. — Chas. Chilton, 

 Port Chalmers, 6th December, 1890. 



New Zealand Entomology. — Our readers will be glad to learn 

 that Mr. G. "V. Hudson of Wellington is about to publish a popular 

 handbook of the insects of New Zealand, with -coloured illustrations 

 from drawings by himself. The book will be issued at Ten Shillings, 

 and will form an acceptable addition to our local literature. A 

 reference to this publication will be found at p. 48, in the report of the 

 meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, held on 29th October. 



MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



OTAGO INSTITUTE. 



Dunedin, 14th October, 1890.— Eev. H. Belcher, M.A., LL.D., 

 President, in the chair. 



Papers. — (1) "On a new parasitic Copepod," by Geo. M. Thomson, 

 F.L.S. The author described and figured a new species of Lepeoph- 

 theirus which was forwarded to him by Mr. J. F. Erecson, of Waipapapa 

 Point Lighthouse, and which he has named after that excellent observer 

 and collector L. Erecsoni. It is a small species, and was taken in con- 

 siderable numbers on the bodies of the Moki (Latris ciliaris). Mr. 

 Thomson then gave a popular account, aided by numerous diagrams, of 

 the form, development and mode of life of the ectoparasites belonging 

 to the Copepoda. 



