Entomological Society. 9817 



Mr. W. F, Evans exhibited two malformed specimens of Vanessa Atalanta; one of 

 which, caugfht near Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1864, had the left antenna only half the 

 length of the right; notwithsliindiug that it possessed the usual number of joints; the 

 other, bred from the larva at Heme Bay, in August, 1865, had the wings on one side 

 considerably larger than on the other. 



Dr. Alexander Wallace mentioned that a specimen of Argynnis Lathonia had been 

 seen, but not captured, by Mr. Harwood, at Colchester, during the previous week, 

 a raiher unusual time for its appearance. 



Mr. Bond exhibited dried larvae of Acherontia Atropos, Sphinx Ligustri and 

 Macroglossa Stellatarum, preserved by Mr. Baker, of Cambridge, and retaining their 

 colour as in life. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a box of butterflies, collected in Labuan by Lieut, de 

 Crespigny. , 



Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited specimens of two species of Stenophylax, which had 

 been sent to him by the Rev. G. T. Browne, St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, and 

 which, together with an Ichneumon of the genus Paniscus, had been found in an ice- 

 cave in the Swiss Alps. In reply to Mr. Browne's enquiry how the insects came to 

 be in such a situation, he (Mr. M'L.) had been unable to give any explanation which 

 was applicable to the Ichueumon, but with respect to the caddis-flies he had suggested 

 that the cave might be connected with the outer world by some subterranean passage 

 or stream, up the course of which the larvae had travelled. This had drawn from 

 Mr. Browne the following:— "There was no communication with the outer air. 

 These flies were found at a very considerable depth in the earth, duwn a rock-fissure, 

 a good hundred feet below our point of entrance, which was itself low down in a 

 face of rock. At the bottom of this we came to a chamber, one corner of which was 

 shut up by a curtain of ice— hermetically sealed up. We hewed a hole through it- 

 all was utterly dark — and found only ice within, with a narrow low passage, about two 

 feet each way, leading lower still into the earth ; stones sent down gave the sound of 

 water. The ice-roof of the ice-trough was thickly studded with these flies, standing 

 still, but running swiftly when disturbed. I caught two, lying flat on my back and 

 lowered by a rope. The other two were found on my dress and beard when I was 

 dragged up again. The three that are alike [the Trichoptera] I have found in other 

 ice-caves; the fourth, something like a huge flying ant [the Ichneumon] I have not 

 found in such situations. Every one's idea must have been, What could they want 

 with eyes?" 



Mr. W. W. Saunders exhibited the bulb of an Orchid from New Grenada, which 

 was covered with and had been destroyed by two species of Coccus : the insects fixed 

 themselves on the bulb, which soon became wizened and withered, and the plant died 

 under their suction. Both species were of the kind known to gardeners as "limpet- 

 scales," one of them being about twice as long as broad, whilst the other was round 

 and expansive, and looked like the half of a little bivalve shell ; the young ones might 

 be killed by washing the plant with a mixture of water and spirits of wine, but when 

 they grew older and had a bard case over them this ceased to be eff"ectual ; and if 

 poisons were api)lied to kill them they reached the root and killed the plant like- 

 wise. There seemed to be a continual development of these pests, and an entire 

 absence of periodicity in their appearance; young ones were produced continually, 

 and, though search had beeu made both by day and night, not a single male had 

 been observed. 



VOL. XXIII. 3 K 



