( liii ) 



Hongkong, which had hitherto been supposed to be confined 

 to Java. 



Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher exhibited a preserved specimen of a 

 variety of the larva of Sphinx ligustri, taken in a wood near 

 Arundel, Sussex. 



Mr. W. White asked if the larva was normal in its early 

 stage ; he also exhibited drawings of the larvfe of this species, 

 and called especial attention to one of a variety that had been 

 exhibited at previous meeting by Lord Walsingham. 



Mr. F. Du Cane Godman read the following letter from Mr. 

 Herbert H. Smith, containing an account of the Hymenoptera, 

 Diptera, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera he had recently collected 

 in St. Vmcent, where he was employed to assist the Committee 

 of the Koyal Society, appointed to investigate the Natural 

 History of the West Indies : — 



" Chateaubelais, St. Vincent, Nov. 6, 1889. 



** Dear Mr. Godman, — I am able to report quite encou- 

 ragingly of work on some groups of insects. We have latterly 

 been paying much attention to the minute Hymenoptera, and 

 the ChalcididcB are turning out very well ; my lens is not 

 powerful enough to separate the minuter forms satisfactorily, 

 but there can hardly be less than 200 species. There are 

 also a good many CynipidtB, Proctotrnpida, and Braconida ; 

 the latter are abundant in individuals, and there are a fair 

 number of species. It is remarkable that this family should 

 be so well represented, while the Ichneumonida; are remarkably 

 poor both in species and individuals. The paucity of all other 

 Hymenoptera is very striking. There are not over twenty- 

 five bees ; if I remember rightly, only two Vespidm, both of 

 which may have been recently introduced ; only five or six 

 PomjnlidcB, three or four SphegidcB, about three Bemhecidcc, and 

 no Crahronid(B ; only two or three minute and rare sawflies. 

 The Keys, on the contrary, seem to be rather rich in the 

 higher Hymenoptera. 



"We have also added many to our collection of Diptera, 

 nearly all small of course ; latterly the Muscid(B are turning 

 out many new species, and it would appear that the proportion 

 of this family to the other Diptera will be as high as elsewhere. 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND. IV., 1889. I 



