78 



And lastly, Dr. Knaggs exhibited a male of Pampliila Liiiea and a female of 

 Anthrocera Filipeiidiilae, which he had taken in copu/A, and which was confiimed by 

 Mr. J. B. Lynch, who also saw them in that state; he kejit the Anthrocera alive for 

 some time, in the hopes of getting ova, but was doomed to disappointment. 



Strophosomus limhatus feeding on Rhododendrons, 

 The Secretary read the following letter, addressed to him by Mr. Charles Noble, 

 of Bagshot Nursery, dated August 19th, 1859: — 



"Sir, — I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in sending the enclosed insects 

 to you; they are doing me an immense amount of injury by eating the leaves of 

 young Rhododendrons, and it appears to me ihey will destroy some thousands if a 

 remedy cannot be found lo destroy them. Could you favour me with its name, its 

 mode of life, how and where ils eggs were laid, and if any known remedy can be 



adopted to destroy it?" 



Mr. Janson observed that the insects sent were Strophosomus limbatus, a Curculio 



common on heath, and therefore doubtless abundant in the immediate neighbourhood 



of Mr. Noble's grounds ; and the President remarked that it was scarcely to be 



wondered at that the insect should attack Rhododendrons, which belong to the same 



natural order of plants as heaths. 



Bees drinking from a Chali/beate Spring. 

 Mr. Tegetmeier stated that when recently at Biechynden, near Southampton, he 

 was informed that the bees in the neighbourhood resorted almost exclusively to one 

 particular spring, or deep open cutting dug for draining: on examination, he found 

 that the water was strongly impregnated with iron, evidently derived from the 

 decomposition of iron pyrites. He noticed that the bees congregated in the greatest 

 numbers at the head of the cutting, drinking the water as it issued from the ground, 

 before it had deposited any of the iron as peroxide. There were numerous other 

 open cuttings in the field, the water in which was not impregnated with iron, and 

 they were not fretiuented by the bees. The fact of bees preferring a chalybeate 

 spring had not, he believed, been previously noticed. 



Mr. Pascoe stated that the collection of insects of all orders belonging to the 

 United Service Museum was to be disposed of by private contract. 



October 3, 1859. 



Dr. Gray, President, in the chair. 



Donations. 

 The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented to 

 the donors: — ' The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,' Vol. xx. 

 Part I ; presented by the Society. ' Tijiiscbrift voor Eutomologie uitgegeven door de 

 Nederlandsche Entomologische Vereeuiging,' Vol. iii. Parts 3, 4 and 5 ; by the Ento- 

 mological Society of the Netherlands. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean 

 Society,' Vol. iv. No. 14; by the Society. 'Farm Insects,' Part 5 ; by the author, 

 John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. ' Exotic Butterflies,' Part 32 ; by VV. W. Saunders, Esq., 

 F.R.S. ' The Zoologist ' for October ; by the Editor. * The Journal of the Society 



