The Zoologist— February, 1867. 583 



Entomologist's Annual ;' by H. T. Stain ton, Esq. ' The Zoologist' for January ; by 

 the Editor. ' The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ' for January ; by the Editors. 

 The following addition by purchase was also announced : — Buicht fiber die Wissen- 

 schaftlichen Leistungen im Gebiete der Enlomologie wahrend der Jahre 1863 und 

 1864,' von Dr. A. Gerstaecker; Erste Halfte. 



Election of Subscriber. 



Samuel Alfred Davis, Esq., of 4, Durham-place West, Holloway, was ballotted 

 for, and elected an Annual Subscriber. 



Exhibitions, $-c. 



Prof.Westwood exhibited a number of butterflies, chiefly Heliconiidae, collected by 

 Dr. Burchell in Central South America, and observed that the Burchell collection was 

 peculiarly interesting, from the fact that each specimen bore a ticket giving the date 

 (sometimes even the hour of the day) and the precise locality of capture, so that the 

 range of particular forms could be traced, and the limits thereof fixed with accuracy. 



Mr. M'Lachlan asked the reason why humming-bird hawk-moths {Macroglossa 

 stellatarum) chased up and down stone walls, banks, or cliffs, but particularly stone 

 walls near the sea ; dozens of specimens might frequently be seen so doing, and in 

 positions far removed from any flowers. No answer was given to the inquiry; but 

 Mr. F. Smith mentioned that he had had sent to him from the Isle of Wight some clay 

 nests extracted from a wall, which eventually produced hymenopterous insects, but 

 which were said by the sender to be formed by the humming-bird-hawk. It seemed 

 probable that his correspondent had noticed the moths performing in the manner 

 described by Mr. M'Lachlan in the neighbourhood of the nests, and had thence erro- 

 neously inferred that the nests were the workmanship of the moths. 



Mr. A. E. Eaton mentioned that he bad, during the past season, found near Lynd- 

 hurst a hornet's nest in a very unusual situation, namely, in a bank composed of sandy 

 soil where no wood was near. The colony was a strong one, and the nest so deeply 

 imbedded in the bank that he had been unable to take it. 



Mr. M'Lachlan said that, since the previous Meeting, at which he had stated that 

 Liparis dispar existed in this country only in a semi-domesticated condition (S. S. 

 579), he had written to Mr. Doubleday on the subject, and that gentleman replied 

 as follows : — " I do not know of any locality in Britain where it occurs in a state of 

 nature, and I am strongly of opinion that it has only been found in the fens round 

 Yaxley ; when I was there in 1839 the larvae swarmed on the gale and dwarf sallows. 

 English was there in 1846, and he found the larvoe pretty common, but not so abun- 

 dant as they were in 1839. Haworth simply says, 'In salicetis, rarissime.' I believe 

 all the specimens which were placed in the old collections were continental, or reared 

 from eggs brought from the Continent, as they were very different from the fen speci- 

 mens, and just like those found in France; and I think most of those now bred in 

 this country are of continental origin. I once collected a great quantity of the pupae 

 in Paris, and brought them home to Epping. The following spring I turned out 

 thousands of larvoe, but they did not establish themselves, although I saw plenty of 

 the moths in one field in August. In 1846 I obtained an immense quantity of eggs 

 from moths bred from larvae brought from Yaxley. Next spring great numbers of 



