11 



are densely clothed with a thick woolly pile, in others the metasteruuin and basal seg- 

 ment of the abdomen only has a thick short erect pubescence. The other characters 

 are less obvious, and chiefly comparative: one is the great thickness of the femora, 

 especially the anterior, in the male ; this character, however, is marked only in part of 

 the species: another is the relative length of the apical abdominal segment, and the 

 shape of the notch in its posterior edge. In the male this segment is shorter than in the 

 female ; the notch is deeper and more rounded ; in the female it is always shallow and 

 angular. The last character appears in those species in which each elytron is doubly 

 sinuate at the apex: when this is the case the sinuation is stronger in the female, the 

 central tooth being much more prominent than in the male. In one species I have 

 noticed the male has only a single sinuation, whilst the female is doubly sinuate- 

 truncate at ihe apex of each elytron." 



Society's ' Transactions' 

 Part 8, completing "Vol. iii. n. s. of the ' Transactions,' was on the table. 



May 0, 1856. 

 W. \V. Saunders, Esq., President, in the chaii*. 



Donations. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be given to the 

 donors: — ' Insecta Britannica,' Diptera, Vol. iii.: by Francis Walker, F.L.S. ; pre- 

 sented by the publisher, Lovell Reeve, Esq. The 'Natural History Review,' No. 9; 

 by the Dublin University Zoological Association. 'Revue et Magasin de Zoologie,' 

 1856, Nos. 2 and 3; by the Editor, Monsieur F. E. Guerin-Meneville. Hewitson's 

 ' Exotic Butterflies,' Part 18 ; by W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., &c. The ' Literary 

 Gazette' for April ; by the Editor. The ' Alhenteum' for April ; by the Editor. The 

 'Journal of the Society of Arts' for April; by the Society of Arts. The 'Zoologist' 

 for May; by the Editor. The ' Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer,' Nos. 2, 3, 4 

 and 5 ; by the Editor, H. T. Slainton, Esq. 'A Manual of British Butterflies and 

 Moths,' No. 3 ; by the Author, H. T. Stainton, Esq. Four specimens of Acidalia de- 

 generaria, and four specimens of Heliothis dipsacea ; by O. Pickard-Cambridge, Esq. 



Election of Members. 



Edward Armitage, Esq., 4, Grove End Road, St. John's Wood, was balloted for, 

 and elected a Member of the Society. 



The President stated that the Entomological Society of France had elected Mr. 

 John Curtis one of its Honorary Members; he felt that this recognition of the valu- 

 able entomological labours of our late President would be as gratifying to the Society 

 as to Mr. Curtis himself. 



