72 



demie Royale,' 1850 ; ' Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliotheque de l'Academie 

 Royale ;' ' Histoire Naturelle des Polypes composes, d'eau douce ;' ' Memoire de 

 Chimie et la Physiologie Vegetale,' 1849 ; ' Expose Generate de 1' Agriculture Lux- 

 embourgeoise,' botb by Henry le Docte ; ' Memoire sur la Pauperisme dans les Flan- 

 dres,' par E. Ducpetiaux, 1850 ; all presented by tbe Academie Royale de Belgique. 

 Five species of foreign Coleoptera, found alive in a warehouse in Glasgow ; by J. 

 Scott, Esq. Two boxes of insects, collected near Baltimore, United States, by R. 

 H. Spence, Esq., and presented by him. A small hornet's nest, with a queen hornet, 

 and four young ones reared from her eggs ; by H. W. Newman, Esq., Stroud. 



It was announced that copies of the President's Address at the Anniversary 

 Meeting were on the table for distribution among the members ; also that Part 4, 

 vol. i. n.s. of the Society's ' Transactions ' was ready. 



The President informed the Meeting that larva? of one of the OSstridae had been 

 found on the rein-deer in the Zoological Society's Garden ; probably of CEdemagena 

 Tarandi, or Cephenemyia trompe ; and it was hoped they would be reared. 



The following account of a hornet's nest, at New House, Stroud, Glo'stershire, by 

 H. W. Newman, Esq., was read. 



"At the end of the month of May, 1850, I placed an empty bee-hive on a board, 

 on a bench in the garden, in expectation of a swarm of bees ; the bees did not swarm 

 as expected. On the 3rd of June, I took up the hive to examine it, and found some 

 curious matter adhering to the top, inside, like part of a cork-screw, this I unfortu- 

 nately (being in a hurry) broke off, and threw down the piece, about an inch long, 

 without examining it. Next day, while I was watching my bees, a large queen hornet 

 came to the empty hive and entered it; at first I thought of killing her, but finding 

 that she remained about ten minutes in the hive, I let her alone ; she went out, 

 making her observations all round. I then recollected the piece of curious substance 

 which T had thrown away; searched for it and found it: it was the foundation of 

 three cells, and on examining it, found there was an egg in each of the cells at the 

 bottom ; the cells had not any sides at the time, being quite open. The queen hornet* 

 seemed determined still to occupy the hive ; she began the same day, and rebuilt all 

 that I had unfortunately thrown down; I watched her day by day, and in about six 

 weeks she had completed nearly twenty cells, and then formed a sort of covering like 

 thin brown paper, nearly egg-shaped, about three inches long, open at the bottom. 

 The comb was suspended by the integument on which the thread is tied. In about 

 thirty-five days from the time the second batch of eggs was laid, two young hornets 

 were hatched, and there were then about a dozen grubs of various sizes in the other 

 cells ; nearly all the cells had an egg or a grub (two or three remain now in different 

 stages of development) : only two or three more young ones were hatched, but the 

 queen mother, at different intervals, carried out at least a dozen live grubs \ and 

 dropped them generally near the hive. The weather was showery and variable during 

 the whole summer here, a hill country, and the esprit de corps of the queen seemed to 

 be guided by the heat and cold ; in a hot sunny day (of which there were but few), 



* It is rather surprising that she did not forsake the hive when all her eggs were 

 destroyed, for she had to begin de novo. 



■f I can only account for this by supposing that the want of sun prevented the 

 mother-hornet from finding sufficient food for the grubs. 



