ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 189 



frequently seen hovering about them, and picking out little 

 flies which have been captured. 



The Secretary read a paper by the Rev. F. W. Hope on 

 Amber and Copal Insects. Mr. Hope remarked, that, notwith- 

 standing the great age of the mummy-insects exhibited at the 

 last meeting, he had now to submit some infinitely older; — 

 they were at least antediluvian, and probably coeval with the 

 world itself. The specimens found in amber and copal had 

 evidently not been starved or injured, but had been enhumed 

 in a state of health, happiness, and vigour. Amber has been 

 found in many parts of this kingdom, particularly, washed up 

 by the tide on the sea-shore near Aldborough. The amber- 

 tree is not now known, and is supposed to be extinct. The 

 same fact held good with the insects ; the forms to which they 

 most nearly approached were entirely extra-European. 



The Rev. F. W. Hope rose to make some further remarks 

 on the same subject; he said he had about 150 genera of 

 amber and copal insects in the tables which he had drawn up. 

 The amber-insects he considered of intertropical, the copal, 

 of oriental forms. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Waterhouse, being a 

 technical description of Picumnus Hopei, a large Coleopterous 

 insect of the family Prionida. An exquisitely beautiful draw- 

 ing of the insect, by Mr. Curtis, was exhibited. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Shuckard on Aculeate 

 Hymenoptera. Mr. Shuckard lamented the almost total 

 neglect of this tribe. He excepted however the Bees ; on 

 this subject he considered Mr. Kirby's " Monographia Apum 

 Angliee " a complete model, and the most perfect work of the 

 kind ever published. Mr. Shuckard attempted to distinguish 

 between the parasitic and imparasitic aculeates. He considers 

 both these characters to be found in nearly allied genera, and 

 sometimes even in the same genus ; of this he gave Pemphre- 

 don as an instance. He observed that the Parasitic Aculeate 

 Hymenoptera differed from Parasitic Ichneumones in never 

 being carnivorous ; they merely feed on the provision stored 

 up for other larva, not on larvae themselves. 



The President, in calling the attention of the meeting to 

 some insects exhibited by Captain James Ross, must be allowed 

 to make a comment on the presence of that distinguished 

 gentleman, and his uncle, Captain John Ross. These 



