196 



"Quarterly Joiirnal of Microscopical Science'' ... Purchased. 



H Annals of Natural History " ... ... ... if 



" Seven Slides in illustration of Mr. Cheshire's 1 -n tm- -n 1 



} From Mr. Enock. 

 paper on the Anatomy of the Bee ... J 



The thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to the donors, and 

 on the motion of the Chairman a special vote of thanks was passed to Mr. 

 Enock for his valuable addition to the Cabinet. 



A paper by the Eev. G. J. Burch, " On a New Flagellate Infusorian," 

 Was read by the Secretary. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Burch for his communi- 

 cation. 



Mr. F. E. Cheshire gave a resume of his paper " On the Economy of the 

 Hive Bee." Commencing with a description of the formation and varieties 

 of the cell, the life history of the bee was traced from the egg to the 

 mature condition, in the cases of workers, drones, and queens, details being 

 given as to the different periods and other circumstances peculiar to each. 

 The subject was treated in a very interesting and popular manner, and was 

 illustrated by a number of beautifully-executed diagrams, showing the 

 anatomy of these insects. 



The Chairman, in inviting remarks upon the subject, said it was certainly 

 a matter of extreme interest to hear a subject discussed in so popular a 

 manner, by a gentleman so well qualified to undertake it from his thorough 

 acquaintance with the economy and the anatomy of the bee, down to its 

 very minutest details. With regard to the casting of the skin of the 

 alimentary canal, this was a matter not in any special way confined to the 

 bee, but belonged also to other larval forms, in which the casts were some- 

 times effected with such perfection that details could often be made out 

 through them which could not be seen in other ways. He did not know 

 that it was necessary to press the lining of the alimentary canal into 

 service in order to explain how the cast skin filled the cell, because as it 

 was cast during the growing period it would be extremely elastic, as com- 

 pared with the skin of the adult insect, and would therefore always cover a 

 much larger space than it occupied before separation. He was sure that 

 the members would feel greatly indebted to Mr. Cheshire, especially as they 

 could so thoroughly rely upon the information received. 



Mr. Hammond called attention to the fact that the eyes of the drone were 

 larger and more prominent than those of the bee, occupying so large a 

 space, indeed, as to meet at the top of the head. This was also observed 

 to be the case with the male blow-fly, and he inquired if it was common to 

 the males of other insects, and if so, for what probable reason ? 



Mr. Cheshire said that theory would account for it by the fact that the 

 queen seldom mated with a drone from her own hive, and as the drones had 

 to follow the queen by sight on the wing they would need acute eyes — for 

 similar reasons, no doubt, the queen had small wings as compared with the 

 drone. 



The Chairman said it was not only in the case of flies, but also in the 

 bymenoptera that this kind of variation was to be observed, both as regarded 



