107 



Mr. Stevens also communicated the following by Mr. A. R. Wallace:— 



Note on the Sexual Differences in the Genus Lomaptera. 



" Lncordaire says in liis ' Genera ' that the Lomapterae offer no sexual distinctions, 

 except slight variations in the legs ; and in the generic character he adds ' the fore 

 legs are three-toothed in both sexes or in the females only.' In four species of the 

 genus which I h;ive recently taken in the Gilolo group of islands, I have, however, 

 observed very strongly marked sexual differences, and I have had the good fortune to 

 confirm them by captu'ring pairs of two species in copula. These differences are as 

 follows : — 



" 1st. The males have always a distinct longitudinal furrow or depression on the 

 under side of the abdomen, which in the females is quite smooth or rounded. 



"2nd. The males have one tooth less than the females on the outside of the ante- 

 rior tibise. In the two larger species the males have two and the females three teeth ; 

 in the two smaller species the males have but one (terminal) tooth, the females two 

 teeth. 



" 3rd. The pygidium in the males is simple, with the extremity somewhat obtuse. 

 In the females it terminates in a sharp reflexed edge, and in the two smaller species is 

 swollen and compressed above and very concave beneath, while in the males it 

 is a simple ovate cone equally rounded above and below. 



" It is probable that these characters exist in all the species of the genus, and may 

 enable persons possessing series of Lomapterae to pair their specimens. I may here 

 remark that the species of this genus are very closely allied, and at the same lime very 

 limited in their range. In Ternate and Gilolo, and iu Kaioa and Batchian, — islands 

 only ten or fifteen miles apart, — are found distinct but closely allied species, differing 

 so slightly (although constantly) that they would be infallibly considered as very 

 trifling varieties, if single specimens of each only were examined. Differences 

 of colour exist in specimens from the same locality ; while minute differences of form 

 and sculpture mark these representative species of adjoining islands." 



Mr. Gloyne read descriptions of some new species of Lema. 

 Mr. Stainton read ' Descriptions of South-African Tineina collected by R. Triraen, 

 Esq., in 1858—59.' 



Mr. Tegetmeier announced the death, on the 3 1st ult., of Dr. Edward Bevan, of 

 Hereford, one of the original Members of this Society, and author of that well-known 

 work, ' The Honey Bee,' at the advanced age of 80 years. 



