1990 The Zoologist — January, 1870. 



Election of Members. 

 The following gentlemen were severally balloUed for, and elected :— As Members, 

 Messrs. D. J. French, of Clialhara ; and C. G. Websdale, of Barnstaple : as Annual 

 Subscribers, Messrs. S. J. Barnes, of Biruiingham ; N. E. Brown, of Reigate ; 

 E. M. Janson, of Chonlales, Nicaragua; O. E. Jansou, of Highgale; W. H.Pearson, 

 of Birmingham ; and W. Douglas Robinson, of Dalbeattie. 



Exhihilions, S)-c. 



Mr. F. Smith, on behalf of Mr. Edwin Brown, exhibited a locust, several specimens 

 of which had been quile recently captured at Burton-on-Trent: it appeared to be 

 identical with a species of which the British Museum possesses five examples from 

 North Bengal. The specimen exhibited was found in the yard of a brewery; and 

 Mr. M'Lachlan suggested that ii bad probably been introduced in an empty returned 

 ale-cask. 



With reference to a recent article in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' 

 in which Mr. Andrew Murray touieuds that Rhipiphorus is not a parasite, but only an 

 inquiline in the nests of wasps, Mr. F. Smith desired to recall attention to the observa- 

 tions of the late Mr. S. Stone, recorded in Proc. Ent. Soc. 1864, pp. 62—66. On 

 p. 64, Mr. Stoue stated that on opening the closed cells of a nest of the common wasp, 

 he had found a larva of Rhipiphorus firmly attached to the full-grown larva of the 

 wasp, the mouth of the former buried in the body of the latter just below the bead ; 

 and that in forty-eigbt hours it consumed every particle of the wasp-larva with the 

 exception of the skin and mandibles. In another nest, which was destroyed by means 

 of gas-tar, Mr. Stone also discovered a small larva of Rhipiphorus firmly attached to its 

 victim, so firmly that when immersed in spirits they remained attached just as they 

 were before death. This identical pair, preserved in spirits, and still in situ, was 

 exhibited by Mr. F. Smith, together with numerous other larva; and pupae of Rhipi- 

 phorus which were placed in his hands by Mr. Stone. One of Mr. Murray's objections 

 to the carnivorous propensity of Rhipiphorus was the fact that he had found the pupa 

 of Rhipiphorus and the pupa of the wasp in the same cell : it appeared, however, that 

 both were of stunted growth, and it was a matter of common experience that larvae occa- 

 sionally spin up before they are full fed, even when food is obtainable, which might 

 have been the case with this Rhipiphorus larva: the attacks of parasites are not 

 always fatal, but many Hymenoptera appear as well as their parasites, e.g. Stylops 

 and the bee. Having regard to the known carefulness and accuracy of observation of 

 Mr. Stone, Mr. F. Smith, notwithstanding certain difficulties raised by Mr. Murray 

 which he was not at present prepared to explain, did not hesitate to re-affirm his belief 

 that Rhipiphorus is a larvivorous parasite, and not a mere guest which enters the nest 

 of the wasp and shares the food of the legitimate occupants. 



Mr. Pascoe exhibited some Australian Heteromera, including new species of 

 HelsEUS, Byrsax, Seirolrana, &c., and two new genera. One species of Saragus 

 (undescribed, and for which the name S. floccosus was proposed), was remarkable from 

 being covered with a peculiar fungoid growth, which was said by the captor to occur 

 on the living insect, and also (or a similar growth) on the trees which the beetle 

 frequented. This growth had been examined by Mr. Currey, and was pronounced to 

 be truly fungous, in fact an Isaria, the early .stage of a Sphceria. Several speci- 



