VI 



'theodolite' into 'dial' worthy of passing mention.) Discovering 

 at this point that dinner, according to time, must be nearly ready, 

 all faces were turned towards Mitcheldean, where at the George 

 it awaited us. 



" So much for the Geological section ; and much it rejoiceth 

 me to say, that I can upon this occasion refer to another which 

 has not been heard of in the annals of the Club for many long 

 clays. Mr. Guise and your unworthy scribe, assisted by Mr. 

 "Wilton, devoted themselves principally to the entomology of the 

 day, and verily their exertions were not all unrewarded. The 

 Fern-chafer (hiatus for swell name, which escapes me at the mo- 

 ment), which is, like all his tribe, in some years exceedingly rare, 

 and in others exceedingly ' de trop,' is this year very abundant. 



"While halting in one of the openings in a woody hine, to 

 admire the novel scenery the Malverns, the Clee Hill, the Sugar 

 Loaf, the Black Mountains, and other distant and unfamiliar 

 eminences, which stood out in the distance with truly remarkable 

 distinctness of outline and feature, an insect of unusual style of 

 flight suddenly attracted the attention of scribe, and disappearing 

 was by him, asserted to have taken refuge with Mr. Wilton, who, 

 on his part disclaimed all knowledge of the stranger, or any desire 

 to be converted into a sanctuary, nevertheless scribe was right, 

 and detected in a fold of his coat a fine specimen of Silplia 

 quinque-costata, the third he had seen in our district,both the others 

 having been taken on May Hill. It here occurs to me 'passim' 

 that this is the only Silpha I have ever taken upon the wing, and 

 all three specimens known to me were so taken, while all its 

 cousins must be sought for under stones, carcases, or other 

 effluvious matter, although there can be no more doubt of the 

 necrophagous scavenger habits of the species in question than of 

 those of its congeners. 



" Another beetle of the same tribe was very shortly afterwards 

 taken, which is also not very common in our vale, Oiceoptoma 

 ruJlcoUis and Cteniceras pectinicornis. 



" I leave Mr. Guise to give his own account of the moths and 

 other insects captured by him. On the summit of Mitcheldean 

 Hill, in the attempt to capture some water beetles, it was found 

 that the shallow mud of a small pond was literally one living 

 mass of the Pisidium pulchellum. Cioindela campestris was here 

 found in great force. 



" The dinner was such as to call forth special encomium, and I 

 really think would have contented, whether for variety, quality, or 

 cost, any member of the Club, which is paying Mr. Yearsley, the 

 host, no mean compliment. 



"The Earl Ducie, in the absence of our President, took the 

 head of the table, confronted by W. V. Guise, Esq. The Queen 

 having been duly honoured, the Rev. W. S. Symonds read a paper 

 iu part explanatory of the Geological sections examined during 

 the day, and called attcution to the discovery iu strata of the 



