188 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



a vestige of the brain remaining. I have omitted to remark, 

 that the hair of the female skull, now on the table, is in 

 perfect preservation, — very long, and, as my daughter tells 

 me, turned up behind in a manner which, 'curiously enough, 

 happens to be the fashion of the present day, and is called 

 the " three-plait." 



The Secretary. — I think, the insects being found dead 

 proves that the eggs must have been deposited during the 

 process of embalming. 



Sixth Sitting. — March 3. 



Among the visitors we observed Captains John raid James 

 Ross. 



The Secretary read a letter from M. Gravenhorst, 

 acknowledging the honour done him by the Society in electing 

 him an honorary member. M. Gravenhorst took the oppor- 

 tunity of calling the attention of the Entomological Society to 

 a work on which he was engaged, " Monographia Coleopte- 

 rorum Micropterorum," (Genus Stapliylinus , Linn.) — and of 

 soliciting the loan of undescribed, rare or unique specimens. 



[We heartily hope this appeal will not remain unanswered ; 

 we shall be happy to afford any assistance in our power to 

 M. Gravenhorst, by charging ourselves with the care and 

 transmission of any specimens that may be sent to us for that 

 purpose.] 



The Foreign Secretary read similar acknowledgments 

 from M.M. De Hahn and Andouin. 



The Secretary read an Abstract of the Entomological 

 Affairs of the Linnaean and Zoological Societies ; — at the 

 latter, a paper, by Mr. W. S. MacLeay, had been read. It 

 related to the genus Mygale. Mr. MacLeay has traced the 

 economy of this large spider with great care and perseverance. 

 It is a nocturnal and terrestrial animal, feeding on mole-crickets 

 and other nocturnal insects : it never spins a web of any kind, 

 but simply pursues its prey on foot; — it never catches birds, 

 and will not touch them, even the smallest, if offered ; so that 

 the previous history of this creature is entirely fabulous. Mr. 

 MacLeay has seen spiders' webs of considerable strength, but 

 the birds never get entangled in them, nor do they evince any 

 fear of them ; on the contrary, the minute humming-birds are 



