SY GAE. 279 
Mr. S: H. Scudder showed two larvae of 
Apatura from Florida, calling attention to 
their relative position in hibernation, and 
remarking on their habits. 
11 Nov. 1881.— 79th meeting. Mr. W: 
Trelease showed a specimen of ant-architec- 
ture from Wood’s Holl, Mass. A small 
colony of Crematogaster lineolata Say, §%, 
had built a tube of crumbled wood about a 
twig of Andromeda ligustrina, at a height of 
twelve or fifteen decimetres from the ground, 
enclosing a colony of larval aphides, which 
they defended pugnaciously. The branch 
being transferred to a room the ants mani- 
fested no disposition to leave their charge, 
occasionally going down, for a drink, to the 
water in which the twig was kept. They 
were kept for about two weeks, when all were 
transferred to alcohol. 
Mr. W: Trelease also showed specimens 
of the white-grub (Lachuosterna guercina), 
from Madison, Wisc., infested with immature 
Torrubia, and remarked on the great destruc- 
tiveness of the grubs about Madison during 
the past season. 
Mr. S: H. Scudder showed a number of 
carboniferous fossils, among them an imma- 
ture specimen of the largest fossil myriapod 
known, a myriapod provided with gills and 
showing clearly the aquatic adaptation of 
some of the group at that time, a greatly 
elongated cockroach, too imperfect for satis- 
factory study, and a gigantic arachnid re- 
sembling Chelzfer. 
Mr. S: H. Scudder exhibited also a plate 
of figures of fossil spiders from the tertiary 
beds of Florissant, Col., and stated the gen- 
eral results he had arrived at from their 
study. The number of species was greater 
than in all the stratified tertiary beds of Eu- 
rope together, and they showed a general 
affinity to those now living in the southern 
United States—a 7etragnatha and a Nephila 
were present, besides several species of two 
new genera, one of efetridae, the other an 
abnormal form of a@ftédae. with four instead 
of two large eyes. The eferridae included 
nearly half of the total number of species. 
There was indication of somewhat interest- 
ing relations with the amber fauna of Europe. 
g Dec. 1881. — 80th meeting. Dr. H. A. 
Hagen read a paper on amber fAsoczva from 
Prussia. No fossil Psocus, save those from 
amber, are known. After stating the general 
results of his study, Dr. Hagen concluded 
that the amber forms gave reason to believe 
that before the tertiary times a great develop- 
ment of genera and species had occurred, 
but the ancestral forms had not been pre- 
served. In the present imperfect state of 
our knowledge of both fossil and living rep- 
resentatives of the group, it did not seem 
wise to attempt to trace their evolution. 
Remarks were made by Dr. Hagen and Mr. 
S: H. Scudder, on the causes which influence 
the imprisonment of insects in amber, and 
on the reasons for the absence of such groups 
as odonata and lepidoptera. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
2 JuNE 1880.—... Mr. Finzi exhibited (on 
behalf of Mr. Lowrey) an example of arcftza 
fuliginosa, in which one antenna was congen- 
itally absent. The president [Sir J: Lubbock] 
stated that he had occasionally bred ants with 
only one antenna, and one example with no 
antennae, this latter being helpless when out 
of the nest. — The president exhibited an 
Australian ant, allied to camponotus, remark- 
able for having its abdomen enormously dis- 
tended (resembling that of a gravid queen 
termite), so that it was little else than an 
animated honey-bag. In this it was analo- 
gous to another (American) species forming 
the genus myrmecocystus of Wesmael.—En- 
tom. mo. mag., July 1880, v. 17, p. 48. 
6 Oct. 1880.—... Mr. A. H. Swinton read 
two papers on the effects of food in producing 
variability in lepidoptera, more especially 
with regard to vanessa urticae and arctia 
caja. —Entom. mo. mag., Dec. 1880, v. 17, 
p- 167. 
2 Mar. 1881.—... Mr. [E. A.] Fitch read 
a detailed report from the ‘* Western daily 
mercury’ on the discovery of living Colorado- 
beetles in possession of a man near Plymouth. 
with editorial leaders on the legal proceedings 
taken against that individual. : 
