Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/207

Rh Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, of Dunster Lodge, Spring Grove, Isleworth, was ballotted for and elected a member.

Mr. McLachlan called attention, with reference to Mr. Mansel Weale's observations on Termes trinervius made at the last meeting of the Society, to a statement in Hagen's "Monographie der Termiten" ('Linnæa Entomologica,' xiv., p. 86), given on the authority of Osten-Sacken, respecting Termes Rippertii of Cuba, the soldiers of which species are said to exude a drop of clear liquid from the point of the head when handled. Mr. McLachlan said that it was interesting to find that Mr. Mansel Weale's observations had confirmed those formerly published.

Mr. F. Grut exhibited, on behalf of the Rev. T. A. Marshall, a collection of insects made by the latter in the Windward Islands, and read a letter which accompanied the collection.

Mr. F. Smith exhibited a series of specimens of a species of "Harvesting Ant," sent to Mr. Darwin from Florida, U.S., by Mrs. M. Treat. On comparison, the Ant appears to be identical with the species from Texas, Myrmica barbata, the M. molifaciens of Buckley. Three phials containing ants were sent, one containing specimens gradating from large soldiers to small workers, all having- acutely dentate mandibles. A second phial contained ants varying in size, but all with mandibles having rounded teeth; in the specimens in the third phial the teeth were obsolete. Mrs. Treat's letter did not make it clear whether intermediate forms of teeth are to be found in nests, or whether it is to be understood that three distinct races exist in colonies, each being thus constituted for the performance of distinct functions. Mr. Smith stated that he had entered into correspondence with Mrs. Treat, and hoped shortly to obtain further information.

Mr. Alexander A. Berens exhibited a pair (male and female) of Thestor Mauritanicus, Staud., taken on the Atlas Mountaius, in Algeria, in April.

Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited a coleopterous larva (probably a Buprestis or Longicorn) belonging to the tribe known as "coffee-borers," sent from Zanzibar by Dr. Kirk. He also exhibited a portion of a stem which had been bored into by the larva, and which was especially remarkable on account of the presence of a series of holes nearly equidistant, and bored in a direction perpendicular to the main gallery. These holes, which opened a communication between the inner gallery and the outer air, were of a conical shape, the inner opening being the widest, and Mr. M'Lachlan suggested that they were made by the insect for the purpose of ventilating the gallery.

Mr. Smith remarked that he had bred numbers of a Longicorn beetle (Saperda populnea), and had frequently observed in the shoots of the aspen,