155 
believing that the fluted stems of Calamites bore verticils of 
slender branches and not merely of leaves. In conclusion 
he called attention to the wonderful penetrating power of 
the cylindrical rootlets of Stigmaria, revealed by Mr. Butter- 
worth’s fine sections. They seem to have found their way 
into everything that presented the slightest trace of a pene- 
trable opening or a cavity, and in one instance, one rootlet 
had forced its way into the interior of another in every 
respect, but size, like itself. 
MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION. 
March 1st, 1869. 
J, B. Dancer, F.RA.S., President of the Section, in the 
Chair, 
Mr. Sidebotham exhibited moths he had bred from some 
of the cocoons from Natal, which had been sent to the 
Manchester Chamber of Commerce, to ascertain whether the 
silk of which they were composed was of any commercial 
value ; these were exhibited to our Section, and reported 
upon last year by Mr. Latham. Mr. F. Smith, of the British 
Museum had kindly given the name of the moth Anaphe 
reticulata ; it is described by Mr. Walker as a new genus 
and species; the specimens in the British Museum were 
obtained from Mr. Gueinzins, who resides at Port Natal. 
The following are the generic characters : Male — body 
cylindrical, moderately stout ; proboscis very short ; palpi 
short, hairy, second joint longer than the first, third very 
minute; antennae moderately pectinated, abdomen extending 
a little beyond the hind wings, legs stout, hind tibiae with 
apical spurs, wings broad ; fore-wings with three inferior 
veins, first and second near together at the base, third 
remote. This genus is placed between the British genera 
Liparis and Orgyia, of which examples were also exhibited. 
