smaller than those of A. raellifica, ten of the former Leing equal to nine of the latter; 

 the cells of A. Indica were still smaller than those from the Cape ; the combs of A. 

 floralis, like those of A. dorsata, were attached to branches of trees; lastly, there were 

 some cells of A. dorsata, made of the same material as the rest, but an inch and a half 

 in depth, which Mr. Smith supposed to he honey-cells. 



Mr. Druce exhibited a collection of butterflies from Nicaragua, brought to this 

 country by Mr. Thomas Belt. Amongst them was a Papilio, near to P. Sesostris; 

 and a series of Heiiconiidae representing four genera, but which looked like one species, 

 the whole of them being found flying together. Ten or twelve new species had been 

 obtained by Mr. Hewitson out of Mr. Belt's collection. 



The President had obtained some handsome new species of (/oleoptera, also from 

 Mr. Belt, the scene of whose operations was the neighbourhood of the Chontales 

 mines. Nicaragua was divided in the middle, the Atlantic side being forest, the 

 Pacific side savannah and open grass-land ; Chontales lay on the edge of the Atlantic 

 belt of forest, and in consequence of the development of the mines there had been 

 considerable felling of timber, and most of Mr. Belt's Coleoptera were brought to him 

 by the wood-cutters : there were some very fine forms of Stenaspis, Colobothea, 

 Amphionycha, Oncideres, Anisocerus, &c., &c., and it seemed as if the tropical types 

 culminated in size and beauty in Nicaragua. So far as American Coleoptera were 

 concerned (though he could not say that he had observed the same thing in other 

 Orders), it seemed that at and near the Equator the species were comparatively dull in 

 colour, but brighter hues were assumed both in the North and South tropics. 



Mr. A. R. Wallace thought this held good in the East also. The beetles of Borneo 

 were generally dull in colour, whilst more brilliant forms were found both in Ceylon 

 and China, in Java and Australia. The excessive uniformity in the character of the 

 vegetation was perhaps the cause of the prevailing dullness of the beetles found within 

 the equatorial belt. 



By an unanimous vote the Secretary was requested to express to the Rev. T. A. 

 Marshall, on behalf of the Members of the Society, their sympathy and condolence 

 with him on the recent loss, through the foundering of a ship between Milford Haven 

 and Barnstaple, of the whole of his library and manuscripts and collection of insects. 

 The destruction of his minute British Hymenoptera belonging to groups but little 

 studied, and of the types of species characterized by Mr. Marshall, was more than 

 a private misfortune, and was an irreparable loss to Science. 



Paper read. 



The following paper was read : — " Description of a new Genus and Species of 

 Prionidse," by Mr. Edmund Thomas Higgins. 



The new form was named Ommatomenus sericatus, was allied to Tilhoes and 

 Dorycera, and was described as connecting the Acanthophorus group of the Old World 

 with the Derobrachus group of the New World. It was found near the mouth of the 

 Niger, and the Acanthophorus megalops of Mr. Adam White, from Fernando Po, was 

 indicated as belonging to the genus Ommatomenus. 



