CURRENT NOTES. 83 



friendships were renewed and fresh ones made ; matters of interest to 

 entomologists (not always entomological) were discussed till supper 

 was announced, and an adjournment made to the liberal spread pro- 

 vided by the host. The toast of " The Entomological Club " was 

 proposed by the host, and " The Host " by the Reverend Canon Fowler. 

 Responding to the latter, Mr. Verrall said that the excitement of 

 twelve months since had largely subsided, but he warned the Council 

 that any feeling on the part of the more active members that they 

 were neglected in the nominations to the governing body would soon 

 develop fresh troubles. He himself was in favour of an annual ballot, 

 and hoped that it would become a regular institution under the new 

 rules. Mr. Jacoby again delighted his fellow-entomologists with his 

 splendid violin-playing, whilst Mr. Rowland-Brown, in response to the 

 host's appeal that the guests should themselves add to the entertain- 

 ment of the evening, sang a song capitally. Altogether, a most 

 pleasant and enjoyable evening was spent. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on 

 February 4th, 1903, the Rev. F. D. Moriceexhibited, with drawings of the 

 abnormal parts, a hermaphrodite of tJiicera low/icornis, Linn., showing 

 one $ antenna normal, and one <? antenna remarkably shortened and 

 with the joints greatly dilated. The clypeus and labrum, one half white 

 (the S' character), and the other half black, as in the $ . In the 

 abdomen and legs the J character predominated, but one half of the 

 apical segments and genitalia seemed to be J" . In a discussion which 

 followed on hermaphroditism. Dr. Sharp stated that Father Wasmann 

 had announced the discovery that, in certain dipterous parasites of the 

 Termites, the individual commences as a male and ends as a female — - 

 a phenomenon entirely new to entomology, though paralleled in some 

 other groups. 



At the same meeting Dr. Chapman exhibited living larvae of 

 Crinnpterijx fainiliella in their cases on Cistiis salrifoUus. The grand- 

 parents were collected just two years ago at Cannes. These laid their 

 eggs out-of-doors at Reigate, and the larvs fed out-of-doors during the 

 winter, 1901-1902 ; they were kept indoors during aestivation and till 

 the moths emerged last autumn. These again laid eggs out-of-doors, 

 and the larvte have fed in the open until now (February 5th), and are 

 f ullgrown in their penultimate instar. The species is a Mediterranean 

 one, and could hardly be expected to do so well in England. At home, 

 however, it affects the cooler and more shaded places, and does not 

 occur where its foodplant is fully exposed in a southern aspect. 



He also exhibited living specimens of Orina tristis var. .wiarai/dina 

 collected eight months ago (May 31st), at Pino, Lago Maggiore. Some 

 have died, others been given away, escaped, etc., so that only these two 

 (both males) remain alive. In conjunction with Mr. Champion, he 

 also read a paper on the life-history of Xanopliyes durieiii, a small 

 curculionid, that causes gall-like swellings on any part of Cotijlcdon 

 (//;//fe///f/^s /), generally close to the root of the plant. Many larvae 

 often occur in one gall, but from spots on the gall, each egg appears to 

 be laid separately, so that the gall is not strictly a large gall, but a 

 congeries of small ones fused together. The galls were common at l^)ejar, 

 the beetles emerging during July and August, when also Apian sedi 

 emerged from the plants. These galls ought to be looked for in Corn- 

 wall and other suitable localities. 



