the female showed a slight approach to the same formation. Also species of the 

 European genera Apion, Altelabus, and Elleschus, recently discovered in Australia; 

 and several remarkable unpublished forms of Curculionidae, among which were — a new 

 genus from Macassar allied to Oxycorynus, having the pronotum distinct from the 

 flanks of the protborax, with its edges serrate ; a species from Batcbian, with the base 

 of the protborax prolonged into a slender spine extending backwards half the length 

 of the elytra ; another from the same island without any claw-joint, its tarsi therefore 

 only three-joiuled ; a species allied to Catasarcus, with a single claw; a peculiar 

 globose form from Cape York, allied to Tragopus ; a thick-set species from South 

 Africa, with the base of its protborax ensconced in the elytra ; a species from Para, 

 of doubtful affinity, with a distinct pronotum ; &c. 



Prof Westwood exhibited a male specimen, from the Oxford Museum, of the 

 Panorpa from Java, which was described at the previous meeting by Mr. M'Lachlan 

 as Panorpa nematogaster. Also specimens of Blatta melanocephala, which was found 

 very destructive in Orchid-houses, feeding on the buds or young shoots. 



Mr. Druce exhibited two male specimens of Pa])ilio Zalmoxis, of Hewitson, from 

 Old Calabar. 



Mr. Bond exhibited Sciaphila communana, of Herrich-Schajffer, a moth new to 

 Britain, captured at Wiclien Fen, Cambridgeshire; also dried larvae of Myelophila 

 cribrella, in situ, within the stems of thistles. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited several species of humble-bees with their respective 

 parasites or cuckoo-bees. Bombus subterrnueus varied from yellow to entirely 

 black, and the parasite Apathus camprestis showed similar variations in colour; 

 the same was true of Bombus muscorum. Bombus terrestris was not liable to 

 variation, its parasite Apathus vesialis was also constant; the same was true of 

 Bombus lapidarius and Apathus rupestris, though the parasite in this case had dark 

 wings. Bombus pratorum was the only moss-building species which was infested by 

 a parasite, Apathus barbutellus, and this did not at all resemble the humble-bee. 

 The first idea that suggested itself was that the cuckoo-bee bore resemblance to the 

 worker of the humble-bee in order to gain access to the nest; but it was only in 

 the social species that the parasites resembled the bumble-bees, and the parasite of 

 B. pratorum militated against the theory. 



In the course of the conversation which ensued, it was suggested that an entry 

 might be effected into the nest of a solitary bee, in the absence of the true owner, 

 without disguise ; whilst in the case of a social species,, of which some of the colony 

 would always be at home, the entry of an undisguised stranger would be detected. 

 And in reply to inquiries, it was elicited from Mr. Smith that the moss-building 

 Bombus pratorum was a placid bee, by the side of whose nest a person might sit with 

 impunity ; and hence it was to be inferred that this species, by reason of its diflferent 

 mental constitution, might more readily admit a stranger into its nest without oppo- 

 sition, whilst stratagem or deception was necessary to obtain access to the nests of 

 species less peaceably disposed. 



Papers read. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



" Descriptions of New Species of Diurnal Lepidoptera." By Mr. W. C. Hewitson. 

 " Notes on Eastern Butterflies. By Mr. A. R. Wallace, 



