Entomological Society. 9741 



months ago, Mr. Marshall, of Edraouloti, gave him three small locuslideous larvae 

 which were lound in an Orchid-house, into which some Orchids from Mexico iiad been 

 recently introduced; these larvae were taken to Reigite and placed in an Orchid- 

 house under a {;lass cover, hut as they were very slii;igish and appeared to be dyiny^, 

 Mr. Saunders' gardener proposed to allow them a little fiesh air;' the result was ihat 

 all three escaped, and for three weeks nothing was seen of them. At the end of that 

 time one of them was found eaiing the under side of the leaf of a Cyinbidium ; 

 having been returned to its glass case, and again allowed to iuhale Iresh air, it again 

 efiFected its escape, upwards of two monilis ago; four days ^before the Meeting the 

 specimen exhibited was found, afier it had completely spoilt a new Orchid (Cyano- 

 phyllum, n. sp.). It turned out that the creature was entirely nocturnal in its habits ; 

 by day it sat on a branch or leaf with its wings flat to the surfoce, the hind and middle 

 legs hidden under the elytra, and the fore legs stretched straii^ht out, with the antennae 

 between and beyond them; in this position it was with difficully distinguished from 

 the plant, and throughout the entire day it remained perfectly still, but at night was 

 active and ate ravenously. The insect seemed to he remarkably fond of wiping'or 

 cleansing its feet and antennae; and throughout its exhibition the |)rocess of gradually 

 drawing the whole length of its antennte through the palpi was carried on. 



Mr. Bates thought the fact of a locust feeding by night was new, and nocturnal 

 habits were the more remarkable in an insect of so bright a colour; he had met with 

 upwards of fifty species in South America, but did not remember one that was 

 nocturnal. The species exhiliited belonjjed to the section of the group having the 

 ovipositor curved upwards from the base and salue-shaped (probably to the genus 

 Steirodon), which suggested the question whether they laid their eggs from below, on 

 the under side of leaves. Ii was well known that the males of this family possessed a 

 drum-shaped organ on one wing-case, and a horny nervule like a file on the other 

 wing-case, by means of which they were able to produce sound; there was one species 

 which was collected by the natives of the Amazons and kept in cages for its musical 

 qualities, as we keep canaries. 



Prof. Westwood pointed out that the insect exhibited was not the locust of common 

 parlance, but belonged to the Gryllid* ; he also explained that the sound-producing 

 organ was a tambourine, rather than a drum ; and he suggested that the specimen was 

 East Indian, uot American. 



Mr. M'Lachlan mentioned that a small species of Gryllus (Meconema varia?) 

 often paid nijjhtly visits to the sugar of Lepidopterists. 



The President said that he had requested further information from Mr. Odewahn 

 respecting the mode of production of the sound emitted by the Australian Bolboceras 

 which he had exhibited at the April Meeting (Zool. 9554); it appeared that the sound 

 was caused by the rotation of the hind coxa) in the cotyloid cavity; strife were 

 visible on the dorsal surface of the coxae, and similar but smaller striae within the 

 cavity. 



Mr. Edward Saunders exhibited Trachys pygmEea, recently captured by sweeping 

 in marshy ground near Folkestone. 



Mr. D. Sharp exhibited Cryptocephalus 10-punctatus, and the black variety 

 Bothnicus of Linnaeus from Rannoch; of the typical form he had found only the 

 female, but of the black form both sexes. 



Mr. D. Sharp also exhibited a number of the larvae of Eros Aurora, from Ran- 

 noch ; they were found gregariously amongst rotten pine-chips, and though not (he 



