Entomological Society, 281 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 October 7th, 1844.— G. Newport, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Bedell exhibited specimens of Tortrix rutilana, Hb. (a species 

 new to Britain), taken at Sanstead Down near Croydon, on juniper 

 bushes. 



Mr. WoUaston exhibited numerous specimens of the rare Cossonus 

 Tarda, taken in decayed beach and sycamore trees in Lord Mount- 

 Edgcombe's park, Cornwall. 



Mr. Raddon exhibited a number of caterpillars of a species of 

 Agrotis, which had proved very destructive to the potatoe crop in 

 Devonshire, eating through the young shoots just beneath the sur- 

 face. 



Mr. Edward Doubleday exhibited a box of Chilian Coleoptera, 

 some of which were new, and of interesting forms. 



The President exhibited a number of specimens of Vanessa lo, 

 which he had subjected in the larva state to a series of experiments, 

 with the view of determining the question as to the power of repro- 

 duction of the limbs in those orders of insects which undergo a 

 complete metamorphosis, and which had fully determined the ex- 

 istence of such a power, the entire legs, including the whole of the 

 coxa and the different parts of the legs, being reproduced : in some 

 cases the limb reproduced was small and comparatively imperfect ; 

 but in all the ungues were reproduced, although the tibial spines 

 were generally absent, as he had also observed to be the case in 

 the Lithobiida. He had also determined that the reproductive pro- 

 cess took place in the antennse of the lulidce when cut off in the 

 middle. Many of the caterpillars had however died from excessive 

 haemorrhage, and he had found that the best period for prosecuting 

 the experiment was, preceding the last stage of the insect's existence 

 as a caterpillar, two or three days before or after the moulting takes 

 place : in moist weather the number of caterpillars which died was 

 far greater than in fine weather, the blood coagulating slowly. [See 

 the details of these experiments published by Mr. G. Newport, in a 

 subsequent part of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal So- 

 ciety of London.] 



Mr. H. Goodsir gave an account of his experiments and observa- 

 tions on the reproductive powers of the Crustacea (which he had 

 communicated to the preceding meeting of the British Association) . 

 He had found the reproductive power greater in this class than in 

 Insects ; but he had observed that the antennse in the Crustacea are not 

 capable of reproduction. He exhibited an extensive series of drawings 

 illustrating the process of reproduction. He had observed, that when 

 the leg is injured in any part, the Crab throws it off at a spot in the 

 coxa distinguished by a slender annulus, the extreme base of the 

 coxa not being capable of reproduction. In the lower Crustacea, 

 however, he had observed that reproduction takes place from any 

 part of the legs, and not merely at the middle of the coxa, as in the 

 Brachyura. He had detected a system of oil-vessels within the 

 Ann, ^ Mag, N, Hist, Vol. xvii. X 



