8924 _ Entomological Society. 
most effective method would doubtless be to completely saturate and baiegn he 
timber, as General Hearsey had mentioned with respect to the quick-lime. 
A conversation subsequently took place on the habits of the Termites, the tic st 
speakers being Gen. Hearsey, Mr. Bates and Prof. Westwood, In the course of the 
discussion Mr. Bates expressed (though with some hesitation) an opinion that the 
copulation of white ants occurs on the surface of the earth, and not, as was commonly 
supposed, in mid-air. 
Mr. Newman exhibited a series of coloured drawings, life-size and magnified, of 
larve of the genus Anticlea, admirably executed by Mr. Buckler. 
Captain Cox also exhibited a large number of drawings of Lepidopterous larve, 
exquisitely coloured by Mrs. Charles Cox: he also read the following :— 
Notes on collecting Lepidopterous Larve. 
“T have now for some years been collecting larve of Lepidoptera fur Mrs. Charles 
Cox to colour, and I may meution that in our neighbourhood there has been almost 
an entire failure, even of the most common kinds, during the past two years, so that 
we have done comparatively little. 
“To those unacquainted with larve it may appear an easy matter to collect them 
and recognize their forms; but so much do many larve resemble each other that 
experience shows that it requires a large amount of study and constant practice to be 
able only approximately to say to what kind of moth such and such a larva belongs. 
We have found that no hitherto-known scientific arrangement could assist us in 
deciphering rapidly, after a hard day’s or night's beating and collecting in a favourable 
season, the various captures made; so we have been obliged to have recourse to a con- 
ventional system, which has assisted us materially. We divide ali known larve into 
three great classes: the Hairy or Spined, the Sinooth-skinned and the Looper. 
“The Hairy or Spined we subdivide into those thickly covered and those mode- 
rately covered or tufted (we do not take account when the hair is only sparsely seen). 
Each of these subdivisions is again subdivided into the colours, brown or reddish, 
black or very dark, and yellow, green or gray. 
“ The Smovth-skinned are divided into those with a caudal spike, and those without ; 
these are subdivided under colours, green or yellow, brown or reddish, black or very 
dark. Each of these divisions is again subdivided into the striped, the lined longi- 
tudinally and the plain. 
“The Loopers are divided into those with 10 legs (perfect loopers) and those with 
12 legs (imperfect loopers); and these are subdivided in the same manner as the two 
divisions of the Smooth-skinned. 
“We keep a book in which is entered a description of the larva to be drawn; to 
this a numeral is attached: the larva is placed in a case, and on this, as well as on 
the drawing, the same number is marked. We then patiently await the arrival of the 
imago, to verify the name of the larva. 
“In prosecuting our work, no name is affixed to our list until we are certain of the 
insect by its appearance in the breeding-cage. It is this great anxiety to verify, by 
actual fact, every insect that we find or is seut to us, that causes such an infinity of 
trouble; for it is painful, from one cause or another, to find how often our hopes are 
baffled by the untimely death of the larva or pupa, and then another year or two must 
pass away before we may obtain specimens again. Thus we have now considerably 
more than a hundred drawings unnamed, and consequently unregistered in “the 
finished series. 
