I^ROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOClATIOIsr. 
44S 
NymphcBa^ Butomiis^ &c.; the production of buds on leaves and ovules in 
carpels being analogous processes. 
The jaws of a very large Shark, and some oil from its liver, with a specimen 
of Goliathus magnus^ were exhibited. This is the largest species of insect 
known, measuring three or four inches in length, and one and a half in breadth. 
It is also very rare, only three specimens existing at the present time in the 
cabinets of Europe. 
The President observed that he believed this insect to be Goliathus giganteus. 
It was one of the rarest insects known. It had been offered for sale at the price 
of fifty guineas, and he had himself offered twenty guineas for a specimen. It 
belonged to the family of the Cetonidco. This family was one of the most ex¬ 
tensive and best known groups of insects that we possessed, and afforded the 
best opportunities for acquiring ideas of general arrangement. It contained 600 
species, only six of which were British. The family Buprestidce perhaps equalled 
them in numbers. He then made some remarks on the forms of the section 
Goliathides. They might be reduced to five principal forms of structure; the 
four first characterized by the forms of their labium, the last by the situation of 
its epimera. 
The President then exhibited some wood from the new pier at Southampton, 
that had been attacked by the Limnoria terebrans. He had been applied to by 
Captain Du Cane, mayor of Southampton, for his opinion as to what was the 
best course to be pursued, as the existence of the pier was threatened by these 
devastating animals. He had recommended that stone be substituted in the pier 
for wood. He believed that this was the only plan, for wherever wood was 
exposed to the gentle action of salt water, these crustaceous animals attacked it. 
They never attacked wood exposed to the more violent action of the waves of 
the sea. 
The Rev. F. W. Hope stated that a memoir had been published on this 
subject by Mr. Coldstream, in the last volume of the Transactions of the Ento¬ 
mological Society. He had heard that Kyanised wood was not attacked by 
White Ants, and he thought it might be applied to prevent the attacks of these 
terebrating animals. These remarks led to a general conversation on the subject 
of preserving wood from the attacks of insects and Crustacea, as well as the 
bottoms of vessels from the adhesion of plants. 
Mr. Francis stated that sap-wood, exposed to the action of chloride of mercury, 
became as durable and fit for use as the heart-wood. 
Mr. Gray then introduced to the attention of the meeting several new species 
of the shells of Gasteropoda. He observed that not a day passed in Liverpool 
but he found some new or undescribed species of animal, and he trusted this fact 
would awaken the naturalists of Liverpool, if there were any, to a sense of the 
