( xxiv ) 



"Is it generally known by Coleopterists that Di/tisciis mar- 

 ginalis possesses the power of making a loud buzzing noise, 

 like a humble bee, when pressed against anything? I got a 

 fine male a few days ago, which the tide had just washed 

 ashore on the sand, and brought it home. As it was in a pill- 

 box, much too small for its comfort, I turned it out into a 

 glazed flower-pot until boiling water was got ready in which 

 to kill it. It had not been there long, when, to my surprise, 

 I heard a loud buzzing noise, and upon looking into the jar 

 found Dytisciis standing close to the edge of the jar, apparently 

 still, but making the loud buzzing noise just mentioned. I 

 called my wife to observe the strange phenomenon of a 

 water-beetle humming like a bee, when it suddenly took 

 flight and flew out upon the table-cloth. I put it back, and 

 it immediately commenced making the same noise, and then 

 attempted another flight." 



Dr. Sharp said he was familiar with the humming of 

 Dytiscus marginalis previous to flight, and thought it might 

 perhaps be connected with an inflation of the body for the 

 purpose of diminishing the specific gravity of the insect ; he 

 had noticed also that it was occasionally accompanied by the 

 discharge of fluid from the body. 



Pdpers read. 

 Mr. William White read a paper " On the Occurrence of 

 Anomalous Spots on Lepidopterous Larva?." The paper 

 dealt chiefly with the curious red spots which sometimes 

 occur upon the larva? of the genera Smeriiithus and Papilio, 

 and in it the author traced the order of development of the 

 spots upon the several segments of the caterpillars, and con- 

 sidered their cause and purpose. The main peculiarity of 

 their occurrence is that they do not resemble any other larval 

 markings, and are dissimilar in regard to their incidence and 

 other characters. They are found, upon minute examination, 

 to vary considerably both in size and intensity, and they 

 appear very irregularly amongst the individuals of a brood. 

 In some cases only a single spot upon each side of one 

 segment occurs — in one example there is a spot upon one 

 side only ; in others there is a series of spots forming a 



