340 TRANSACTIONS OF TllD 



and also by a girt round the middle. Immediately on escaping 

 from (he puparium, and before the wings are expanded, the 

 butterfly leaves the pomegranate, through the hole it had made 

 while yet in the larva state. The butterfly is Thecla Isocrates, 

 of Fabricius. On an anatomical examination of the perfect 

 insect, Mr. Westwood found the protarsi of the males exarti- 

 culate. 



2. Description of a new Coleopterous penus, heloyiging to the tribe 

 Prionida, termed Torneutes. By G. C. Reich, M.D., for. 

 M.L.S. Lond., for. M.E.S. &c. 



Headexserted porrected, as broad as the prothorax : anten- 

 nae filiform, 12-jointed as long as the head and prothorax: 

 labrum quadrate : mandibles porrected, as long as the head, 

 curved at the apex and o-toothed : lacinia of the maxillae small 

 and rounded, galea somewhat larger, also rounded; maxipalpi 

 4-jointed, the first joint small and slender, the rest longer, 

 stout exteriorly, and of nearly equal length ; labium transverse, 

 very short, labipalpi 3-jointed, the first joint short, the others 

 elongate subclavate : prothorax subquadrate, rather longer than 

 broad; elytra linear, thrice the length of the prothorax, 

 rounded at the apex : legs short. 



Sp. Pallidipennis. Black shining: elytra glabrous, testa- 

 ceous, with two slightly elevated lines on each. Length 3 

 inches, breadth o"75 inch. Inhabits the province of Entre 

 Rios, South America. 



I 



3. Account of the Poma Sodomitica^ or Dead Sea Apples. By 

 Walter Elliott, Esq. M.E.S. 



The Mala insana, Poma Sodomitica, or Apples of the Dead 

 Sea, beautiful and tempting to the eye, but crumbling to dust 

 and bitter ashes at the touch, have been the subject of much 

 controversy. Some authors even deny their existence, consider- 

 ing them merely the creations of Eastern imagination ; others, 

 however, treat their existence as a fact beyond all dispute. 

 Mr. Elliott's memorandum is to this effect : — " Among the trees 

 in the forests beyond Jordan was one called Sajar el Push, on 

 which we found what we conceived to be the true Dead Sea 

 Apple, described by Stral)o. 'I'hc Arabs told ns to bite it, 



