QQ [SciitciiiVjer, ISVP. 



existing could ever gain access to dragon-flies, just as in the case of the bed-bug and 

 the human flea, where there must be myriads that never have an opportunity of 

 tasting human blood. He further noticed that at the Meeting for August 1, 1864, 

 he exhibited a dragon-fly from Montpellier, similarly attacked, and it was recorded 

 as Diplax striolata (Tr. Ent. Soc, 2nd ser., vol. ii proc, p. 36). This was an error, 

 the insect being D. meridionalis, which seemed peculiarly subject to attack. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited Tillus unifasciatus, Xylotrogus briinneus, &c., recently 

 taken by him on new oak fences at Norwood, rare insects, and not taken near London 

 for many years {vide E. M. M., Aug., 1876, p. 65). 



Mr. Forbes exhibited an example of Quedius dilatatus (a parasite in hornets' 

 nests), taken by him at sugar in the New Forest. 



Mr. Champion exhibited Harpalus 4^-punctatus, Dendrophagus crenatus, Leptura 

 sanguinolenta $, Amara alpina, Crt/ptophagiis 'paralleliis, and Omosita depressa, 

 all from Aviemore, Invernesshire. 



Mr. Grrut, with reference to the communication from the Foreign Office, read at 

 the Meeting on the 3rd May (E. M. M., vol. xiii, p. 19), read a further oflicial com- 

 munication from our Minister at Madrid, respecting the ravages of locusts in Spain, 

 accompanied by examples of the insects, which prove to be Decticus albifrons, Fab., 

 and also a multitude of curved earthen tubes filled with the eggs (these tubes were 

 innocently described in the official letter as " chrysalids," each giving birth to a large 

 number of insects !). 



The Rev. R. P. Mui-ray forwarded a paper from Mr. W. H. Miskin, of Brisbane, 

 containing descriptions of Diurnal Lepndoptera from Queensland. 



Mr. E. Saunders read the concluding portion of his Synopsis of British Hemip- 

 tera-Heteroptera. 



Mr. Smith read Notes on Nematus gallicola, the gall maker on the leaves of 

 species of Salix, of which the S had apparently not hitherto been observed. From 

 500 or 600 galls collected in 1875 he had obtained multitudes of females and two 

 males ; a similar attempt in 1876 had resulted in one male. He was of opinion that 

 by persevering from season to season, it was possible to obtain the male of this, and 

 of other allied species of which this sex is practically unknown, though these might 

 occur at rare intervals, the female being capable of continuing the species without 

 (of necessity) immediate male influence. And he argued from this that the long- 

 sought male of Cynips may some day be found (especially by collecting the galls 

 early in the year). He expressed his belief that the late Mr. Walsh had proved 

 beyond question the breeding of a male Cynips in America ; nevertheless, some 

 Members present thought there was still an amount of obscurity concerning the 

 precise generic rank of the presumed male Cynips. 



Professor Westwood sent drawings and descriptions of a Lepidopterous insect 

 belonging to the BombycidcB, parasitic upon Fulgora candelaria, and described as 

 JLpipyrops anomala. The notes concerning this extraordinary instance of parasitism 

 ■were communicated to him (with specimens) twenty-six years ago by Mr. J. C. 

 Bowring, from Hong Kong. The larvae were found attached to the dorsal surface of 

 the Fulgora, and as they grew had a cottony covering, which also occurred in the 

 pupa state (a period very variable in duration). Tlie whole circumstantial evidence 

 tended to prove that it was upon the waxy secretion of the Fulgora that the larva 

 fed, and that of this the cocoon of the pupa was formed. The general appearance 

 and structure of the imago induced Prof. Westwood to place the insect in the family 

 Arctiidm as an aberrant form. [This very extraordinary insect was noticed by 

 Prof. Westwood at the Meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1860, and 

 an account of it, under the name of " Fpipyrops trwoHiaZa, Bowring," appears in 

 the Report (the 30th) of that Meeting, p. 124, 1861.— Eds.]. 



