210 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



thing in other species of Agrionidffi. Herr Jacoby exhibited four 

 varieties of Snicrinthus tilia;. Mr. Enock exhibited specimens of the 

 thistle gall-fiy, Trypeta caidui, aud also of Caraphractits clnctus, Haliday 

 (= Pohjnema natans, Lubbock) ; with regard to the latter insect, he 

 said that he bad observed copulation to take place below the surface of 

 the w.iter. A discussion followed on this point, in which several of 

 the Fellows took part. Mons. Alfred Wailly exhibited living larvfe 

 of lihodia fngax, and also a cocoon of the species, which is of a bright 

 green colour, and differs considerably in shape from those of all the 

 other known silk-producing Bombyces. The Secretary exhibited, on 

 behalf of Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, four 

 species of lac-producing Coccidas, viz., Tachardia (jemmifera, CklL, from 

 Jamaica; T. pusUdato, n. s., and T. /'»/_v('hs, n.s., from Arizona; and 

 T. cornuta, Ckll., from New Mexico, in the discussion which followed, 

 Lord Walsingham mentioned the fact that an American species of 

 Micro-Lepidoptera, belonging to the fficophoridfe, feeds on the secretion 

 deposited by one of the Coccidae ; this species, for which Dr. Clemens 

 created a genus (the name for which was found to have been pre- 

 occupied and now stands as Riiclemcnsia), is the nearest ally to the lost 

 (Ec<jplio7-a woodiella, taken many years ago in England. Mr. Roland 

 Trimen exhibited some specimens of " honey " ants, discovered at 

 Estcourt, in Natal, about a year ago, by Mr. J. M. Hutchinson. The 

 species has not been identified, but is quite different from Mynneco- 

 cystus and Cauiponotus — the genera which have long been distinguished 

 as containing species some of whose workers are employed as living 

 honey-pots for the benefit of the community. The specimens ex- 

 hibited included six "globulars " — to use Mr. McCook's term in regard 

 to the American species Mynnecocystus hortus-deorum — all with the 

 abdomen enormously distended with nectar ; but other examples pre- 

 sented to the South-Afiican Museum by Mr. Hutchinson comprised 

 various individuals exhibiting different gradations of distention, thus 

 indicating that the condition of absolute repletion is arrived at 

 gradually, and may possibly be reached by some few only of those 

 individuals who feed, or are fed up, for the purpose. Certainly, in 

 the nests examined by Mr. Hutchinson, in Natal, the number of 

 "globulars" was very small in proportion to the population of ordinary 

 Avorkers ; and it is somewhat difficult to understand of what particular 

 value as a food reserve so very small a quantity of nectar so ex- 

 ceptionally stored can be. Mr. Trimen added that while the occur- 

 rence of "honey" ants in southern North America, South Australia, 

 and he believed also in India, was well known, the Natal species now 

 exhibited was the first African one that had come under his notice. 

 In the course of the discussion which followed, Professor Eiley said 

 that the American species referred to by Mr. Trimen was common from 

 Colorado to Mexico, and that the honey-bearmg ants were often very 

 numerous in their communities ; he further pointed out the fact that 

 many common species of ants have the power of distending the 

 abdomen Avith honey, and that this was very evident in certain species 

 of Formica. Dr. Sharp exhibited a series of Coleoptera to illustrate 

 variation in size. This series consisted of individuals that had been 

 kindly lent to him by M. Eene Oberthiir, by the Hon. Walter Roths- 

 child, by Messrs. Godman and Salvin, by Mr. Jacoby, and by Mr. 



