JOURNAL OF PROCEKDINGS. Ixxxiii 



of garden-frames which strongly reflected the rays of the sun, was 

 also noticed, in support of the power of the visual organs of these 

 insects, and which it was impossihle to account for by their sense 

 of smell, the former power, to any distance, having been denied to 

 them by some writers. 



Mr. Scales stated, that in the summer of 1834 he had observed 

 for a length of time the repeated attempts made by one of the smaller 

 dragon-flies (Agrionidce) to couple with a tortoiseshell butterfly 

 (Vanessa Urtica:), adding, that he was convinced that the object of 

 the former was not in the slightest degree predaceous. 



Several instances were alluded to of a somewhat analogous singu- 

 larity, Mr. Shuckard stating that he had observed individuals be- 

 longing to two distinct genera of bees, Osmia and C/^e/os^oma, coupled ; 

 and Mr. Hope mentioned that in the Collection of the Zoological 

 Society a Donacia and Crioceris were thus preserved coupled to- 

 gether, and that he had himself seen the same occurrence in a Bu- 

 pestris and Elater. 



Tlie President stated, in allusion to Mr. Lewis's communication, 

 that he had recently captured Lamprias chlorocephulus (one of the 

 Lebiides,) under the bark of trees, and had observed the emission of 

 a caustic and pungent fluid by it when seized. Likewise, that not- 

 withstanding the asserted want of carrion feeders (Necrophagi, &c.) 

 in tropical countries, he was well convinced of their existence in such 

 regions. 



He also stated that the application of gas tar, obtained fi'om the 

 gas works, in the interior parts of ships, would probably have the ef- 

 fect of ridding them of the Blattce, that material having been found 

 efficacious in various bakers' shops, &c. in London. The use of the 

 glass beetle-trap was, on the other hand, strongly recommended by 

 Colonel Sykes. 



Relative to Mr. Newport's observations, the President also stated 

 that he had often noticed at Netley the wings of white butterflies 

 scattered about on the ground, but had always supposed them to 

 have been destroyed by the bats. He had also found the wings of 

 various Lepidopterous insects, especially iVorfwzrfte eiiid Mormo 3Iaurtt, 

 in the wasps' nests, and supposed that these moths having entered 

 the mouth of the nest, had been destroyed by the wasps. 



Mr. Scales mentioned the great numbers of ladybirds (Coccinel- 

 lid(£) at the present time found in swarms m various situations about 

 his house at Stoke Newington, adding that they occasionally made 

 their way into the webs of spiders, which were deterred from attack- 

 ing them in consequence probably of the disagreeable fluid which 

 they emit. 



