143 



Like its host, this insect belongs to the great order Hymenoptera, 

 but they are members of entirely different groups, for the Hhyssa is 

 an ichneumon. The saw-flies are phytophagous or plant-feeding 

 creatures, while the ichneumons are entomophagous — that is, their 

 larvfe are parasitic on other insects, and do not burrow into the 

 trunks or defoliate the plants as do the caterpillars of the saw- 

 flies. Both these creatures have, however, one feature in common, 

 and that is that their females possess well-developed processes on 

 the terminal segment of the abdomen. These are their ovipositors, 

 and in the case of Rhi/ssa especially the ovipositor is immensely long 

 compared with the size of the insect. The necessity for this great 

 length is explained by the fact that the larvte on which it feeds are 

 wood-borers and make their way deeply into the trunk in which 

 they live. The female PJujssa has the wonderful power of detecting 

 the presence of the unseen Sirex grub and of exactly locating it, 

 and more wonderful still, it is able to pierce the hard wood with its 

 slender and fragile-looking ovipositor and to deposit its egg in the 

 body of the grub. Instances have been known where the fly has 

 driven its ovipositor so far into the wood that it has been unable to 

 withdraw it, and it has perished in that position. I do not think 

 that Ilhyssa persuasuria is a common insect in England. No doubt 

 it occurs in great numbers in those parts of our island where the tir 

 trees in which the Sirex burrows are more abundant. I have been 

 unable to ascertain whether Rhyssa persuasoria ever attacks the 

 larvte of Sirex noctilin or whether it confines its attention to the 

 allied species." 



JANUARY Uth, 1915. 



Dr. Chapman exhibited an Anthrocera exulans with six wings, 

 and one of A. anthyllidis with three tarsi on the left mesothoracic 

 leg; also one of A. achillete with symmetrical wing notches (see 

 Proc. Ent. Soc, 1914, p. Ixxxiv.). 



He also showed, three exotic lattice-work or lace cocoons, prob- 

 ably of saturniids or lithosiids, and the pupation burrows of Scardia 

 boleti (from Gomshall), showing the trap-door closing the cocoon at 

 the bottom of an outer tube (closed externally) of some length, 

 sometimes twice as long as the cocoon-tube. 



Mr. H. Moore exhibited cases of Psychidae from the Island of 

 Rhodes, the Indian Territory of the U.S.A., and the Upper Amazon. 

 (Eceticus kirbii, Guild., from Antigua, W.I., with male and female 

 pupee ; also cocoons of Caliynla simla, West., N. W. Himalaya, 



