SOCIETIES. 97 



aprilina ; while Amphipyra tragopogonis, Triphcena comes, Orthosia rnaci- 

 lenta, Xanthia circellaris, Miselia oxyacantha, and Phlogophora meticulosa 

 were all very abundant. During October Cerastis vaccinii, C. ligula | = spa- 

 dicea), and Scopelosoma satellitia largely replaced them. Occasional speci- 

 mens of Caradrina quadripunctata, Agrotis segetum, and Orthosia lota 

 complete the list. Two of the best nights were September 17th and *27th. 

 The former was a mild, still night ; whereas on the latter the wind was 

 N.N.W. and cold, with bright moonshine. Himera pennaria occurred 

 frequently at light in October ; and Cheimatobia brumata was very abun- 

 dant here and there on mild November evenings. — Alfred S Tetley ; 

 Llwyuon, Newtown, N. Wales. 



A Locust in a Cauliflower. — Yesterday, February 26th, my cook 

 informed me that she had found a very large and strange insect in the 

 leaves of the cauliflower she was preparing for cooking. As she was 

 certain it was not a dragonfly, I requested her to look for it in the dustbin, 

 where she had thrown it with the leaves. In a few minutes a locust was 

 brought to me alive and uninjured ; it is of full size, and I am keeping it 

 in a warm place. I am informed that the cauliflower came from Italy. — 

 H. Perry Duprey ; Fort House, Green Lanes, Stoke Newington, N. 



SOCIETIES. 



Entomological Society of London. — February 15th, 1899. — 

 Mr. G. H. Verrall, President, in the chair. Mr. James E. Collin, of 

 Sussex Lodge, Newmarket, was elected a Fellow of the Society. Mr. 

 B. A. Bower exhibited perfectly black melanic examples of Bparmia 

 abietaria, Hb., bred from ova laid by a female of the ordinary Box Hill 

 form, which was captured on the 9th of July, 1897. They were part of 

 a brood of seventeen, seven of which were of the black aberration ; and 

 for comparison with them he showed specimens from Box Hill, South 

 Devon and the New Forest. Mr. Blandford exhibited some lumps of 

 common salt burrowed by larvae of Dermestes vulpinus, to which he had 

 incidentally referred in a letter just published in " Nature." They 

 were sent to him by Sir H. T. Wood, Secretary of the Society of Arts, 

 who received them from a correspondent writing from a preserved-meat 

 factory in Australia. It was a mistake to suppose, as this correspondent 

 had done, that the larva3 burrowed in the salt for the sake of obtaining 

 food ; he himself had on various occasions called attention to depre- 

 dations of Dermestes vulpinus, arising from a habit the larvffi had of 

 burrowing through different materials in order to find a shelter in which 

 to undergo pupation, though this was the first time that salt, as a 

 substance attacked in that way, had come under his notice. Mr. J. J. 

 Walker, in remarking upon the exhibit, said he believed one of the 

 earliest references to injuries caused by Dermestes was to be found in 

 " The Last Voyage of Thomas Candish," published in Hakluyt's 

 Collection of Voyages, where there was an interesting though somewhat 

 exaggerated account of certain worms which, bred from a stock of dried 

 Penguins, proceeded to devour the whole of the ship's stores, and then 

 to gnaw into the timbers, creating great alarm lest the ship should 



