Papers read. 



The following papers were read: — 



" New Genera and Species of Coleoplera from Chontales, Nicaragua," by ibe 

 President. 



" Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Hispidce ; with Notes ou some 

 previously described Species," by Mr. J. S. Baly. 



"A Synopsis of the Genus Clothilda," by Mr. Osbert Salvin. 



December 1, 1869. 

 H. W. Bates, Esq., President, in the chair. 



Donations to the Library. 

 The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors: — 

 'Eugenie's Resa ' (Hymenoptera by A. E. Holmgren, Diplera by C. G. Thomson); 

 and ' Hemiptera Africana,' by C. Stal, vols, i, — iv.; presented by the Royal Swedish 

 Academy of Sciences. ' Entomologische Zeitung,' 1869, Parts 7—12, and 1870, 

 Parts 1—3; by the Entomological Society of Stettin, 'The Zoologist' for December; 

 by the Editor, 'The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine' for December; by the 

 Editors. 



Election of Members. 



The following gentlemen were severally ballotted for, and elected Members:— 

 M.M. Gustave d'Emerich, of Pesth ; I'Abbe de Marseul, of Paris; Charles Oberthur, 

 fils, of Rennes (Foreign Members) ; and Captain Lang, R.E., of Reigale ; and Messrs. 

 W. Arnold Lewis, of The Temple; J, Cosmo Melvill, of Manchester; and Howard 

 Vaughan, of Kentish Town. 



Exhibitions, ^c. 



Prof. Westwood exhibited drawings and dissections of some Hymenoptera pos- 

 sessing extraordinary structural peculiarities: they were principally Chalcididas, of the 

 genera Prionopelma and Metapelma (see Proc. Zool. Soc, 1835). 



Mr. F, Smith exhibited a mass of earth-cells formed by a species of Halictus, 

 found by Mr. J, K. Lord near Cairo. The bee burrowed into the ground to a depth 

 of about twelve inches, and the cells were then formed, close together, and all round 

 the shaft or tunnel, the entrance to each cell being from the central shaft. Mr, Lord 

 described the bee as making a tubular entrance to the nest, probably of the material 

 which was thrown out in the excavation of the vertical shaft, but the construction was 

 too brittle or fragile for transport. Mr. Smith remarked that this tubular entrance was 

 after ihe manner of Odynerus spinipes, but it was the first time he had heard of any 

 species of bee forming such a construction. 



The President said that some species of Melipona, which form their nests in the 

 hollows of trees, construct a trumpet-shaped entrance of waxy material, or of some 

 substance held together by a waxy cement. 



