XI 



tLe latter Mr. Smith liad a large number of cocoons, and if there were such a thing 

 as a male of that species he hoped soon to breed it. 



The President remarked that the different habits of the sexes must be taken into 

 account. Among the Soulh-American butterflies, the males of many were more 

 handsome than the females, and exceeded them in number in the proportion of a 

 hundred to one; the male sported in the sunshine, whilst the female was slow in 

 flight, never appeared in the open sun, but remained in the shade of the forest: under 

 such circumstances it might be that a superabundance of males was necessary in order 

 to ensure the impregnation of the females and to prevent the extinction of the 

 species; but he was unable to suggest any explanation of an excess of females over 

 males. 



Mr. Stainton thought that, by reason of the difference of habit of the sexes, little 

 reliance could be placed upon records of a supposed disproportion of the number of 

 the sexes of any insect when in a stale of nature : it was only by breeding the insect 

 that the relative numbers of the sexes could be ascertained with any certainty. In 

 Micro-Lepidoptera he had often found the result of observations in the field at 

 rariance wilh the result of breeding the same species iu confinement; species the 

 females of which, from their retiring and secluded habits, were seldom caught, whilst 

 the males were common, had, when eggs or larvae were obtained, produced twice as many 

 females as males. 



Mr. M'Lachlan said that Mr. Darwin had recently put two queries to him, Do 

 male dragon-flies fight with one another? and, Do many or several males follow 

 one female? He confessed his inability to answer with certainty either of thes§ 

 apparently simple questions. 



Papers react. 



The following papers were read v — 



"A few Observations on the Synonymy of Tinea (?) alpicella and Zelleria saxi, 

 fragae, n. sp.," by Mr. H. T. Stainton. 



" On the Homologies of the Ovipositor,' by Mr. A. E. Eaton. 



"Contributions to a Knowledge of the Coleoptera," Part 1 (continued); by 

 Mr. F. P. Pascoe. The following are brief diagnoses of some of the most interesting 

 of the new genera and species : — 



Elestora (Leperince afBnis). Oculi liberi. Antennae breviusculas ; clava articuli^ 



3 transversis, perfoliatis. Labium profuude divisum, ciliatum. Corpus grossum, 

 velutinum. 



Elestora fulgurata. Aterrima; scutello, maoulisque 4 magnis elytrorum auran- 

 tiacis. Long. 6^ lin. Penang. 



Dryocora (Cucujo aflinis). Palpi acuti. Prothorax apicem versus gradatim 

 angustior, lateribus integris. Prosternum latum. Metasternum elongalum. Tarsi 

 ^ et $ 4-articulati. 



Dryocora Hoiviltii. Ferruginea, nitida; elytris subtiliter lineato-puuctatis. Long. 



4 lin. New Zealand. 



Nessiaro hislria. Atra; capite, prolhorace basi excepla, elytrorumquc apicibus 

 miniaceis; elytris, corporc subtus, pedibusque cinereis, illis nigro-lineatis. Long. 

 10 lin. Manilla. 



