PROCEEDINGS 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



January 7, 1850. 

 G. K. Waterhoise, Esq., President, in the chair. 



Mr. Busk, who was present as a visitor, exhibited two kinds of silken web, for- 

 warded to him by Mr. Kincaid, an extract of a letter from whom was read, stating 

 that " they were the production of a species of silkworm found in the mountains near 

 Merida, Maracaybo : the insects spin, or rather weave, it from tree to tree, sometimes 

 to the extent of several feet in length and breadth.'' This production appears to have 

 been hitherto quite unknown in this country. Mr. Busk also presented two specimens 

 of it, mounted on glass slides, for the microscope. 



A portrait of the late Edward Doubleday, by Maguire, was presented by George 

 Ransome, Esq., accompanied by a letter from Mr. Bowerbank, stating that copies at 

 5s. each would be furnished to subscribers. Mr. Douglas then read the following 

 memoir: — 



" The death of my lamented coadjutor, Mr. Edward Doubleday, affords a melan- 

 choly opportunity, which I trust T may be permitted to use, of placing upon our 

 minutes a brief testimony to his worth. Educated in the midst of woodland scenery, 

 the love of Nature — in him strongly innate — grew with his growth and increased 

 with his strength, and led to an intimate acquaintance with the Natural History of 

 his native district. In course of time his enthusiasm led him to North America, and 

 he spent two years in visiting its magnificent scenery and collecting objects of Natural 

 History, chiefly insects, of which he brought home immense quantities. Subsequently 

 he became attached to the British Museum, where, up to the time of his illness, he 

 laboured most assiduously, as the present state of the Lepidoptera in that Institution 

 abundantly testifies. He also contributed largely to the entomological literature of 

 the day, but, most of all, his name will be remembered in connexion with the ' Genera 

 of Diurnal Lepidoptera,' a work which for beauty and accuracy has no equal, though, 

 unfortunately for us, he has not lived to see it completed. Above all we have reason 

 to deplore his loss as a man. Doubtless he had his failings, for, as our great poet 

 says, 



' You, Gods, will give us 

 Some faults to make us men ;' 



