100 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



$ s. Mr. Bacot read the following notes on his exhibit : — " The 

 variation of the specimens is not very marked, and can, I think, in 

 every instance be traced to one of the parents or grandparents. It 

 consists chiefly of minor details of marking, and the amount of dusky 

 suffusion on the white ground of the fore-wings. Only one point is 

 perhaps worthy of special mention. I refer to a tendency in some of 

 the 5 s, for the dark bands on the fore-wings to close together at the 

 base. The larvfe of both '95 and '96 broods were fed on cherry, and 

 those of the grandparents on oak." Larvae of Orgyia gonostigma. — Mr. 

 Burrows exhibited (a) larvae of (>. i/oiwutifiiiia, hatched July, 1896, 

 hybernated in bag out of doors on oak ; (b) ditto, a full generation 

 ahead, hatched Sept. 1st, 1896, hybernated indoors. The winter home 

 OF Apamea oPHiOGRAjniA. — A single larva, believed to be that of A. 

 opkioi/ramiiia, was also exhibited by Mr. Burrows. It was embedded 

 in the root-stem of striped grass. Double-broods of 0. gonostigma. 

 — With regard to the double-broods of (J. i/nnostiiiuia, Mr. Burrows 

 said, in 1887 the imagines emerged on June 28th, the ova hatched on 

 July 18th, and the larvfe pupated on Aug. 30th. In 1893, the 

 imagines emerged on June 14th, the ova hatched on June 27th, the 

 larvfe pupated on Aug. 13th, the imagines again emerged on Aug. 

 25th, and the ova again hatched on Sept. 15th. In 1896, the imagines 

 emerged on June 22nd, the ova hatched on July 2nd, the larvfe 

 pupated on Aug. 3rd, the imagines again emerged on Aug. 15th, and 

 the ova again hatched on Sept. 1st. 



Cambridge Entomological and Natural History Society. — Feb. 

 25th, 1897. — Stridulatory organ in the larva of Geotrupes. — Dr. D. 

 Sharp exhibited a larva of one of our common Geotrupes, and called 

 attention to its stridulatory organ, in which one pair of legs work upon 

 the pair in front of them. He said that this beetle in the imago state 

 also possesses a stridulatory organ, but it is situated in a different 

 position anatomically, and therefore not corresponding with the larval 

 organ. The latter is lost in the imago, and it is clear that this 

 elaborate structure exists solely for the larval state ; but Dr. Sharp 

 acknowledged that he was unable to guess what use such a structure 

 could be to a larva, leading as this does an underground life, and 

 having, as far as we know, no relations with the lives of other 

 individuals of its own species that could be influenced by any sound it 

 might make. March 12th, 1897. — Termites.— Dr. Sharp, exhibited on 

 behalf of Dr. Haviland, part of his magnificent collection of Termites. 

 His method of preparation consists in placing the various forms of a 

 species found in one nest, in glass tubes, divided into compartments 

 by cotton wool, and filled with spirit. A photograph of a Termitarium 

 of Teruies inalai/anns, taken i)i .^itu, after it had been sectionised, showed 

 the royal cell in the middle of the structure, and the chambers for 

 growing fungi — this species being a fungus grower — about the peri- 

 phery portions of this nest, and individuals taken from it, were 

 exhibited. The nest is composed of thin, fragile laminje, of a pottery- 

 like structure ; but the royal cell, composed of this substance, is very 

 thick and solid. The fungus chambers are not constructed of clay, 

 but of comminated vegetable matter, subsequently cemented together. 

 The specimens taken from this nest included two queens and one 

 king from the royal cell, large and small soldiers, and large-headed 

 and small-headed workers. 



