186 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



and lofty flight ; Mr. MacLeay had been successful in breed- 

 ing this remarkable insect, and now detailed its economy, 

 which proves all that has hitherto been written respecting it 

 to have been incorrect. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. W. Christy, jun., on 

 a species of Calandra. Mr. Christy had found this insect 

 in great abundance in the stones of tamarinds, sometimes 

 forty in a single stone ; he had in no instance found 

 them alive, and was therefore unable to furnish any facts 

 relating to their economy. He concluded they had perished 

 in the boiling of the fruit, and hoped that some Rasticus 

 might hereafter meet with them in their living state, and 

 record their operations. 



The Secretary read a paper by the Rev. F. W. Hope, 

 technically describing some new genera of Colenptera ; draw- 

 ings were exhibited. 



The Secretary read a paper by himself, on the nidus, &c. 

 of the gregarious larva of a Mexican butterfly; the nidus was 

 exhibited ; it was of a tough, leather-like substance, and some- 

 what bottle-shaped ; it contained the pupa-cases of nearly a 

 hundred of the butterflies, all attached by the tail. The 

 Secretary also exhibited the nidus of a wasp, which frequently 

 builds in the orange trees in Demerara. 



The Secretary" read a technical description of some Aus- 

 tralian Pkasmata, by Mr. G. R. Gray ; the paper was intended 

 as a supplement to Mr. Gray's splendid monograph of Pliasma; 

 the species described were exhibited. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Lewis, containing 

 technical descriptions of some Homopterous Hemiptera. 



The Rev. F. W. Hope exhibited to the meeting some insects 

 which had been extracted by Mr. Pettigrew from the skull of 

 a mummy ; the skull was now on the table : there were several 

 species, principally of Coleopterous genera — Derinestes Ro'ei, 

 elongatus, and poUinctus ; Necrobia imimiariim ; and a single 

 elytron of Pimelia spinulosa, besides the pupa and pupa-cases 

 of two Dipterous insects. Mr. Hope observed, that the oldest 

 specimens of insects with which he was acquainted, were in 

 the museum at Leyden, and the age of these did not, he 

 believed, exceed 150 years; but the specimens he was now 

 exhibiting, had probably been in existence three thousand 

 years. He would not, however, take upon himself to state 



