(. eee) 
various Hymenoptera, including those of several Tenthredinide referred 
to in his memoir read at the last meeting of the Society, in which 
Mr. Cameron described what he considered the most useful process of 
mounting specimens for entomological working purposes ; he recommended 
the use of a }-inch power. 
Mr. R. M’Lachlan said these were the best examples of microscopic 
mounting he had seen since Curtis’s preparations. He was extremely . 
gratified to find Mr. Cameron using the saw as a means of specific 
distinction in the Tenthredinide, which had already been attempted by 
Zaddach. In using the microscope for entomological purposes Mr. 
M’Lachlan greatly preferred a 3-in. objective to the }-in. 
Mr. Waterhouse also recommended the use of a 3-in. in preference to 
the }-in. 
The Rey. A. E. Eaton pointed out the dependence on the maker of the 
various glasses when speaking of any particular power. For transparent 
objects he should strongly recommend Ross’s lenses, but not for the semi- 
transparent and opaque objects now exhibited. In some instances he 
thought the use of a }-in. power necessary. 
The Rev. A. E. Eaton exhibited pieces of honeycomb, constructed, by 
a community of hive-bees, in the open air, upon the outside of an exposed 
bare wall, quite unsheltered from the afternoon sun. Quite at the end of 
last May, W. Herbert Evans, Esq., of Forde Abbey, Dorset, noticed a 
protuberance on the western wall of the principal wing of his residence 
placed just underneath a string course in the masonry, about 40 ft. from 
the ground and 10 ft. below the battlements. For the moment he supposed 
it to be a curiously coloured swallow’s nest, but on looking more carefully 
at it he perceived that it was the commencement of a honeycomb, in course 
of construction by the bees of an adjoining crevice. ‘The comb eventually 
consisted of four slabs, hung parallel with the face of the wall, measuring 
each of them about 2 ft. by 22 ft. The larger part of the combs was blown 
down during the gale of October 14th, when many of the cells were found 
to be tenanted by bee-grubs; but the bases of the combs still remain in 
situ, and are not yet deserted by the bees. The fragments exhibited were 
picked up from the ground under the nest on the 26th ult., after the bees 
had forsaken them and the grubs had departed. 
The President remarked that he knew no other instance on record of 
the hive-bee building in the open air. 
Mr. Eaton also exhibited specimens and coloured whole-figures of new 
varieties of Armadillium vulgare, L., and Porcellio scaber, Latr., together 
with a typical example of the latter species from Iceland. One variety of 
Armadillium vulgare represented a specimen in which the ground-colour 
of the body is bright orange-brown instead of black or greyish black, and 
the commonly present bright yellow markings are more or less conspicuous. 
