880 The Zoologist — August, 1867. 



G. marmorea); a new species of Zelleria, allied to Z. hepariella, for which M. Milliere 

 proposes the name of Phillyrella, bred from the flowers of Phillyrea angustifolia ; and 

 a Neplicula, bred from the cork-tree. Mr. Stainton remarked that, in addition to the 

 species bred, there were a number of different larva? which he failed to rear, and 

 among them was another species of Nepticula on the cork-tree with a very peculiar 

 mine. 



The Hon. Thomas De Grey exhibited Eupcecilia anthemidana and E. rupicola 

 from Norfolk ; and mentioned that he had on the previous day captured in Kent five 

 specimens of Hypercallia Christierniuana. 



Mr. A. R. Wallace exhibited a collection of Malayan Cetoniidae, in illustration of 



the paper mentioned below. 



Papers read. 



"Observations on Dzierzon's Theory of Reproduction in the Honey-bee," by 

 Mr. John Lowe, of Edinburgh. With a view to test the truth of the theory that "all 

 eggs which come to maturity in the two ovaries of a queen-bee are only of one and 

 the same type, which when they are laid without coming in contact with the male 

 semen, become developed into male bees, but, on the contrary, when they are fertilized 

 by male semen, produce female bees," from which theory, if true, we might, in the 

 words of Von Siebold, " expect beforehand that by the copulation of a unicolorous 

 blackish brown German and a reddish brown Italian bee, the mixture of the two races 

 would only be expressed in the hybrid females or workers, but not in the drones, 

 which, as proceeding from unfecundated eggs, must remain purely German or 

 purely Italian, according as the queen selected for the production of hybrids belonged 

 to the German or Italian race," the writer set to work to obtain hybrids between Apis 

 mellifica and Apis Ligustica, and also between Apis mellifica and Apis fasciata, and 

 the result of his experiments was that Ligurian queen-bees fertilized by English 

 drones and Egyptian queen-bees fertilized by English drones, both produced 

 drones which, as well as the workers, were hybrid in their characters, and 

 bore unmistakeable evidence of the influence of the male parent. From this 

 the Author drew the conclusion that the eggs of a queen-bee which has been fer- 

 tilized by a drone of another race, whether they develope into drones or workers, 

 are in some way affected by th*e act of fecundation, and that both sexes of the progeny 

 partake of the paternal and maternal character or race ; from which it followed that 

 Dzierzon's was not the true theory of reproduction in the honey-bee. Specimens of 

 the hybrids were exhibited to the Meeting, and Mr. Frederick Smith (who did not 

 consider Apis Ligustica to be specifically distinct from Apis mellifica), after an 

 examination of the specimens, corroborated Mr. Lowe's statement that the hybrid 

 drones distinctly showed characters peculiar to Apis mellifica in combination with the 

 characters which distinguish A. Ligustica and A. fasciata respectively. 



"A Catalogue of the Cetoniidae of the Malayan Archipelago, with Descriptions 

 of the New Species," by Mr. A. R. Wallace. In this Catalogue 181 Malayan 

 Cetoniidae are enumerated, 70 of them being described as new. 



New Part of ' Transactions.' 

 A new Part of the « Transactions ' (Third Series, Vol. iii. Part 4), being the third 

 Part published during 1867, and containing a further instalment of Mr. Pascoe's 

 " Lungicornia Malayana," was on the table. — J. W. D. 



