Entomological Society . ^Ibl 



Prof. Westwond added that he had recently observed one of his full-grown lartje 

 of Satuniia Cynthia, which had been fed on its natural food, the Ailanthus, had 

 emitted from the anus one or two large drops of fluid: prior to their change lo the 

 pupa stale larvae generally expelled as much fcecal matter as possible; but was this 

 fluid discharge to be regarded as part, or an extension, of the same phenomenon? 

 was it the natural habit of the creature, or a symptom ol disease? 



Mr Siaiiiton referred to Duponchel's account of the larvae as affected with " une 

 legere dianhee" when nearly full fed. 



Mr. F. Moore bad not observed any of his larvce of Saturnia Cynthia to be simi- 

 larly affected ; and he had fed some of them on Ricinus communis. 



The Secretary read the following, communicated by Mr. S. Stone, of Bright- 

 hampton, under dale of the 2nd of September, 1865 : — 



" Scarcity of Wasps.— T\\e immense falling off in the number of anticipated 

 wasps' nests which has taken place is most extraordinary. I had occasion to remark 

 in the spring on the swarms of queen wasps which made their appearance, and on the 

 unusual number of nests that were then to be found, I myself having observed no less 

 than thirty-five in one day (April 28th;, but one after another bejame deserted, some 

 in a few days after their conimencemeat, others at periods more distant, till all had 

 become tenantless, none having attained to a size larger than about thai of an orange, 

 I have found during the season sixiy-one nests, but at the present lime only two of ihe 

 number are progressing; the others I added, as fast as they became deserted, to my 

 collecticm. The two above mentioned I removed some time ago to the inteiior of a 

 warm room in a house I have used for the purpose of rearing wasps and obseiving 

 their habits for some years past, where tlie work is at present being carried on ; but 

 I am in daily expett.iliou of seeing the insects succumb to disease, as was the case 

 with two other colonies I previously had at work iii the same room : all seemed to he 

 going on well with them till the 5lh of August, when a sudden diminution in the 

 number of workers, and a cessation from work, took |)lace in both nests simultaneously ; 

 and on examining them two or three days afterwards I found that nearly all the 

 workers had disappeared, and that all the larvae had sickened, died, and were in an 

 advanced slate of decomposition, having turned perfectly black : and this was also the 

 case with very many of those that had spun themselves up and changed into pupje ; 

 whence I infer that an epidemic more fatal in its character than that of last year, 

 earlier in its appearance, and far more wide-spread, attacked ihe family of social wasps, 

 and has resulted in their almost total destruction. Thai earwigs (which swarm to an 

 extent I never before witnessed), wood-lice and ants have been in some degree instru- 

 mental in causing the destruction of nests, especially during the earlier periods of their 

 formation, I have had abundant opportunities of proving ; still that would hardly 

 account for the universal destruction that has occurred. I did not find that more 

 nests became deserted during the short periods of rain we occasionally had tiian 

 during periods of the most charming and delightful weather, or that nests situated in 

 moist ground fared worse than those in very dry situations." 



Mr. Baly mentioned that, contrary to what seemed to be the general experience, 

 wasps were this autumn abundant near Aberdeen. 



Mr. F. Smith had spent the month of August at Bournemouth, and had not seen 

 a single wasp, whereas in the same month of the previous year he could have obtained 

 in the same locality twenty or thirty nests any morning: he thought it not improbable 



