lil 
Mr. F. Smith exhibited an additional collection of Hymenoptera sent 
from Calcutta by Mr. Rothney. It consisted of 1573 specimens of Fos- 
sorial Hymenoptera and Apide, all in beautiful condition. There were 
probably not more than twenty-five undescribed species; but from twenty to 
thirty species, which were hitherto represented in the British Museum by 
a single sex, were here most fully represented. 
Mr. Verrall exhibited a number of living fleas taken two days previously 
from inside the ears of a rabbit near Lewes. They were gregarious in this 
situation, and in such a position that the animal was unable to dislodge 
them by scratching. He alluded to a communication made to him by 
Mr. M‘Lachlan regarding a species from Ceylon which was gregariously 
collected in a very limited space on the neck of a fowl, and which had been 
exhibited at a recent meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society. They 
were fixed to the skin of the fowl by the proboscis, so that only the tails 
were visible outwards. Mr. Cole said he had found fleas on a hedgehog ; 
and Mr. W. A. Lewis had obtained a species on a marmot in Switzerland. 
Mr. Dunning called attention to the following extract from a recent 
French paper :— 
Colouring Matter from the Cockchaffer.—The ‘ Bulletin des Sciences et 
Arts’ of Poligny (Jura) gives particulars of a curious discovery by 
Dr. Auguste Chevreuse. He had found that in decapitating living cock- 
chaffers an hour after they have been feeding, they yield four or five drops 
of a colouring substance, which varies with the nature of the leaves on 
which they have been feeding, and he has already obtained fourteen different 
shades. M. Nichlés, Professor of Chemistry, M. Préclaire, Professor of 
Drawing, and M. Chatelain, architect, have found that this substance may 
be employed either in mono-tinted drawings—like Indian ink, sepia, &.— 
or mixed with water colours, and that it does not change on exposure to 
the light. The colouring substance may be collected on glass or in shells, 
in which it may be left to dry, and when required for use it is sufficient to 
dissolve it in water.’ When applied in a thick coat it presents the effect 
of varnish. Two or three cockchaffers suffice for a small water-colour 
drawing. 
The Rey. R. P. Murray stated that Mr. Edwards, of Virginia, was 
desirous of obtaining specimens of the pupz of Pieris Napi, and that he 
would be happy to receive them for him from any entomologist who might 
be able to obtain them. 
