222 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



CONVERSAZIONE OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



OP LONDON. 



The Entomological Society is to be congratulated on having 

 secured the Linnean Society's rooms in Burlington House for 

 the second Conversazione, which took place on the evening of 

 Wednesday, May 17th. The Library is admirably suited for the 

 display of exhibits ; and the Lecture Eoom for the Addresses, 

 delivered on this occasion by Professor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., 

 on "Becent Discoveries in Insect Mimicry," and by Mr. F. Enock, 

 F.E.S., on "The Tiger Beetle {Cicindela campestris),''' both of 

 them receiving a hearty welcome from large audiences, to whom 

 the many and excellent lantern slides were an additional delight. 



Upstairs the exhibitions were arranged in such a way as to 

 be seen to the best advantage ; perhaps the most attractive 

 being the Hon. N. C. Rothschild's and Dr. Karl Jordan's model 

 of the Tropical Plague Flea {Xenopsylla cheopis), showing that 

 insect about the size of a well-fed cat ! The same two Fellows 

 also brought from Tring exceptionally instructive cases of 

 Gynandromorphs and Papilionida from New Guinea. Mimicry 

 so much under discussion at the present moment, was objec- 

 tively presented in the exhibits contributed by Lord Avebury, 

 F.R.S.; Professor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. ; Mr. C. A. Wiggins; 

 Dr. W. A. Lamborn ; and Mr. E. G. Joseph, respectively; Mr. 

 H. Eltringham's beautiful drawings for the plates of his ' African 

 Mimetic Butterflies ' supplying a further insight into the mys- 

 teries of the several groups screened by him ; while presented 

 with the exquisite finish and delicacy we associate with all his 

 work were Mr. Enock's series of photomicrographs of new species 

 of British Mymaridse. Other extremely popular exhibits were 

 Mr. W. C. Crawley's and Mr. H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe's obser- 

 vation nests of British ants with guests, the latter showing also 

 cases illustrative of ants and myrmecophilous insects, and 

 myrmecophilous Acari and Coccid^e under the microscope ; and 

 Miss Fountaine's magnificent collection of bred Charaxes. In 

 the "living" department maybe noticed Mr. G. R. Baldock's 

 " Stick Insects," born and bred in this country from an Indian 

 parent, and the many examples of larvse and pupae of British 

 Lepidoptera brought by Mr. L. W. Newman. But to our dis- 

 appointment, especially at a time when so much is being heard 

 on the subject of economic entomology, exhibits of the applied 

 science were conspicuous only by their absence — Mr. F. W. L. 

 Sladen's Living Workers of his British Golden Bee being the only 

 item of the kind in an otherwise quite sufficiently well-filled list. 



From the short space at our disposal we have been com- 

 pelled, of course, to omit a number of hardly less interesting 

 exhibitions than those mentioned. We must record, however, 

 our pleasure and thanks to the Linnean Society for the fine case 



