468 



it would be quite possible to see in a quiet room at home 

 what could not be detected under present conditions. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Grenfell for his 

 paper. 



Mr. R. T. Lewis said that he exhibited at the last meeting 

 of the Club some curious eggs, together with the larvae which 

 were hatched out of them. . The eggs were laid upon the bark of 

 a tree, they were pure white, oval in shape, each one being 

 mounted upon a short stalk, and having the free end covered with 

 an operculum bearing a small knob-like elevation, suggesting a 

 resemblance to the cover of a china teapot. The larvae were very- 

 curious also, differing in the character of the mouth organs from any 

 others he had met with. The antennae were three-jointed, with 

 very long terminal hairs, and the mandibles were serrated on both 

 edges and sharp at the points. The larvae were bright red in 

 colour and very small, averaging about *037 inch in extreme 

 length. His object in bringing them to the meeting was to get 

 some suggestions from members which might possibly lead to 

 identification. Since then, ho^Yever, Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse, of 

 the British Museum, liad met with a figure of it, and has been able 

 to say that it was the larva of Mantispa, His correspondents in 

 Natal, from whom the eggs were received, were preparing to 

 make some more systematic observations in these things than 

 hitherto, and had already started a Vivarium, in which they were 

 hoping to be able to rear and trace the life- history of many well- 

 known insects with whose larval forms we were at present 

 unacquainted. Drawings of the eggs and larva3 were handed 

 round for inspection. 



The Chairman said these stalked eggs were very curious, but 

 they were not uncommon amongst certain classes of insects, those 

 of the lace wing fly being familiar to most observers. He was 

 glad to hear of the attempt which it was proposed to make to 

 work out the life-history of these creatures, because there was 

 more lacking in respect of this class of observations than in any 

 other branch of natural history. If Mr. Lewis's friends would 

 devote themselves to this class of observations, they would be 

 doing what was greatly wanted and would be likely to be of great 

 service to entomological science. 



It was announced by the Chairman that there would be no 

 conversational meeting held in that room as usual on the 1st 



