146 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



squash-bug; Murgantia histrionica, the harlequin cabbage-bug; Anoph- 

 thalmia tenuis, a blind cave-beetle ; and Blissua leucopterus, the chinch- 

 bug, all from the United States of North America ; and contributed 

 notes. The blind beetle was from the famous Wyandotte caves. 

 Mr. Tutt, a specimen of Libythea celtis, taken in S. France after hyber- 

 nation, and set to show the protective resting habit, the veins and 

 markings of the lower side and the palpi and antennae admirably 

 resembling a dead but still attached leaf and its stalk. Mr. Jones, a 

 very large number of European Lepidoptera, mostly bred and in the 

 fiuest condition, to illustrate his paper on the subject of " Collecting 

 in the Eiviera." Mr. Tutt and Dr. Chapman gave details of their 

 recent experiences in the district. — Hy. J. Turner, Hun. Rep. Sec. 



Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. — May 9th, 1898. 

 —The President in the chair. Mr. F. E. Dixon Nuttall, F.M.S., was 

 elected a member. Mr. F. M. Pierce, F.E.S., read a paper entitled 

 " Recent Investigations of the hair-pencils on certain Noctuae." 

 After a short summary of the immense field of research open to ento- 

 mologists, the lecturer proceeded to add to the width of that field by a 

 description of the classificatory use of this hairy organ. Describing 

 how he was led to a study of this subject by a specimen of E. nigra, 

 he proceeded to point out the frequent occurrence of this organ in 

 several — in fact, in most — of the species of Noctuina. The organs, 

 briefly described, are a pair of chitinous flaps, one at each side of the 

 ventral surface of the abdomen and close to its junction with the 

 thorax. From each of these flaps proceeds a pencil of tine hairs, 

 closely agglutinated at the base, separating towards the apical half, and 

 then enclosed in a pocket further down the abdomen, and generally 

 more towards the centre. He illustrated his paper by excellent 

 diagrams and microscope slides. He contrasted these pencils with the 

 tarsal tufts of the Herininidre, pointing out that these are hairs, not 

 scales, and are joined for a considerable distance, while each hair after 

 separation is marked with a network of rliombi, each with a raised 

 centre, not with pits and striations, as in the scale-tufts of Hermiuia. 

 He proved these organs to be specific, not accidental, but disproved the 

 suggestions ;is to their being respiratory organs and so on, as found in 

 the writings of Inchbald, Matthews, Westwood, Kirby and Spence, and 

 Allis. He also explained how these organs apparently have been over- 

 looked in so many species, by the fact that they are, as a rule, enclosed 

 in the above-mentioned pockets. He attributed to them some un- 

 known sense, and gave a list of species proved to possess or to be with- 

 out these organs. After an account of the different sizes and shapes 

 they manifest, the lecture closed with a discussion. One of the points 

 brought out in discussion was the possibility of these being scent- 

 organs, not necessarily lor receiving sense of scent, but for distributing 

 the scent. The discussion also attempted to associate their absence 

 with the presence of pectinated antenna 1 . Exhibits by Messrs. Capper, 

 l'ii ice, Thompson, Cotton, Birch, Freeman, and Prince, closed the 

 evening. The next meeting is to be devoted to exhibits only, and is to 

 be held on Oct. 10th.— (Rev.) R. Freeman, M.A. Reporting Sec. 



