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12 
growing gooseberries, and making gooseberry jam, 
When she heard of the painted lady butterfly coming 
all the way from Africa it astounded her. The 
idea of such a fragile creature flying across into 
Sicily, over the Alps, and then across to this 
country, was certainly very strange. She did m>fc 
know whether it was the same butterflies that did 
that or successive broods. Care ought to be taken 
in the destruction of insects. They knew that 
farmers had destroyed birds ignorantly, and ifc 
struck her as possible that there might be some 
insects which preyed upon the microscopic fungoid 
germs, and therefore if they destroyed insects they 
should do so with knowledge, and be careful lest 
they destroyed the balance of nature. Ladies had 
great aptitude for such studies. The Duchess of 
Pitzjames, who wrote an able paper in the Con¬ 
temporary Review a few weeks ago, had received a 
medal from the Phylloxera Congress at Bordeaux, 
for her ability in dealing with the phylloxera. 
Insects had their places, and might often be very 
much out of place, as for instance, the black 
beetle, which was recently found making its 
way up the floor of the House of 
Commons, but if, as in that case, insects 
might disturb the debates of the House of 
Commons, she certainly thought they might con¬ 
sider them at the Athenaeum (applause) —Mr. 
Popley referred to the use of insects in providing 
food for birds, and to the practice of some insects 
getting rid of their husbaods by eating them. He 
also remarked that insects were very dainty, for 
they always selected the ripest peach or pear, or 
the choicest plant in a conservatory. They were 
also very cleanly, some being furnished with little 
brushes at the ends of their tails, with which they 
kept their coats clean. The house fly was often 
observed cleaning its feelers by rubbing them 
together. He hoped they might be able to form a 
field club during the summer, so that they might 
go out and study these things, and he hoped the 
ladies would accompany them (hear, hear).—Mr. 
Hargreaves said he believed the insect to whose 
domestic relations the last speaker referred was the 
common spider.—Mr. H. B. T Strangways, J.P., 
said the chairman mentioned in his opening remarks 
that Miss Oimerod was known not only in Europe 
but in Australia. Only recently he saw some 
comments in an Australian paper on some observa¬ 
tions of Miss Ormerod, from which the people of 
Australia expected to gain considerable advantage. 
Sir Joseph Hooker had remarked that Kew Gardens 
