1986 The Zoologist— January, 1870. 



Exhibition!!, ^-c. 



Mr. Jansnn, on behalf of Dr. Power, exhibited the following seven species of 

 Coleoptera, all new to the British list: — (1) Triarlhrou JIaevkelii, Schmidt, taken 

 near Esher, 23rd July, 1869 (also taken by Mr. Oliver Janson, at Shirley, on the 

 7th August); (2) Silvanus siinilis, Enchnon, at Esher, 4th August, by sweepinr;:; 

 (3) Niptus gonospermi, Duval, twelve or fourteen specimens taken by Mr. J. B. Syme 

 on an old wall in the Orkneys; (4) Bruchus lentis, Boheman, at Birch Wood in May, 

 and Gravesend in June ; (5) B. nigripes, Gyllenhal (which in Kraalz's new Catalogue 

 is said to be B. viciae, Oliv.), at Devil's Dyke, Brighton, in May; ((>) B. nubilus, 

 Boheman, near Surbiton and at Gravesend, in June (this in the Stettin Catalogue is 

 said to be B. luteicornis, but in Kraatz's new Catalogue it is made a distinct jspecies; 

 it differs much in the form of the thorax, markings, size, &c., and is mure like B. semi- 

 narius); (7) B. canus, Gertnar, at Gravesend, in June (this in the Stettin Catalogue 

 is made identical with B. cisti, Fahr., but it differs from ordinary specimens of that 

 species in the shape of the thorax, length of antenna, more elongate form, and peculiar 

 gray colour; it is more like B. loli: a specimen in the European collection of the 

 British Museum, named by Germar and deposited by Walton, agrees exactly with the 

 Gravesend specimens). All these four species of Bruchus were found in essentially 

 wild places, far removed from granaries or depositories of leguminous seeds, and were 

 all taken fortuitously by sweeping. And lastly, Phratora cavifrons, Thomson, taken at 

 Esher in June, also at Cowley and Dareuih, on poplars: introduced into the British 

 list by Dr. Sharp, in Ent. Mo. Mag. v. 100. 



Mr. F, Smith exhibited Meloe rugosus of Marsham {= autumnalis of Leach, 

 punctatus of Stephens), a species not captured for the last thirty years, but formerly 

 taken, according to Stephens, near Margate. About three weeks previously Mr. Smith, 

 being near Prittlewell, Essex, went to the nest of a species of.Anthophora, in which 

 M. proscarabaus and other species are usually found, and by accident came upon a 

 couple of dozen specimens of M. rugosus among grass iu the neighbourhood of the 

 nest, crawling about at the roots: he hoped to have kept them alive, but on the 

 second day of their captivity an indisciiminale fij^ht was commenced, in which both 

 sexes joined; only four escai)ed mutilation, all the rest losing legs and antennx and 

 being reduced to fragments: the abdomen of each of the females was afterwards 

 opened, and it appeared that with one exception all had deposited their eggs, which 

 rendered their pugnacity still more remarkable. A subsequent visit to the same 

 locality yielded five more specimens of the beetle. It was observable that this made 

 the fourth species of Meloe found in the nest of the same kind of bee. 



Mr. Grut exhil)ited some Coleoptera captured by M.TheophiJe Deyrolle nearTrebi- 

 zonde, including four new species of Carabus, C. robustus, C. ponticus, C. Theophili, 

 and C. Gilnickii. 



Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited the transformatiuns of Mantispa pagana, which had 

 been discovered by Dr. Brauer, of Vienna. The species was parasitic in the nest of a 

 spider (Lycosa) : the young larvae were of the ordinary Neuropterous type, but when 

 nearly full grown their legs almost disappeared, and the larvae were reduced to almost 

 footless maggots: the pupa was enclosed in a cocoon, and was of the ordinary 

 Neuropterous form, like the Hemerobiidae, to which doubtless the Mantispidoe were 

 closely allied. Now that the habit of one species had been delecleil, it miijht be 

 anticipated that the whole genus Mantispa would prove to be parasitic on spiders ; 



