40 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
a vibrating bell. This illustration gave experimental demonstration of the 
action of the stridulating apparatus of the Pterinoxylus mentioned at the 
last meeting by Mr. Wood-Mason. 
A discussion followed, in which Messrs. Wood-Mason, M‘Lachlan and 
I’. Smith took part: 
Mr. J. W. Dunning called the attention of the Society to a paper 
recently published in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Cambridge Philosophical 
Society (vol. iii., part ii, Feb. 12th, 1877), “On a striking instance of 
Mimicry, with some Notes on the Phenomenon of Protective Resemblance,” 
by Mr. Neville Goodman, M.A. The insect mimicked is the well-known 
hornet, Vespa orientalis, which is found commonly round the shores of the 
Mediterranean, and extends through Upper Egypt, Syria and Arabia, into 
Hindostan. The imitator is a species of Laphria, the resemblance con- 
sisting in similarity of colour, size, shape, attitude when at rest, and mode 
of flight. The author points out that the word “ mimicry” is best applied 
to cases of resemblance of one living being to another, and suggests that the 
term “ protective resemblance” should be confined to cases of assimilation 
to stones, sticks, bark, lichens, dead leaves, &c.* The author also refers to 
the fact that the phenomenon of resemblance (both mimetic and protective) 
is one of degree, and insists that this fact is entirely in favour of the view 
of the production of such resemblances through the agency of the “ survival 
of the fittest,” but is quite inexplicable on the teleological view of the origin 
of species. 
The Secretary directed attention to a letter in ‘ Nature’ (Nov. 15th, 1877, 
p- 45), detailing some experiments made upon Abraxas grossulariata, which 
tended to show that the insect was sensitive to certain sounds, and remarked 
that these facts appeared to lend experimental support to the existence of an 
organ of hearing in Lepidoptera, as recently described by Mr. A. H. Swinton 
(Ent. Mo. Mag., Nov. 1877). 
Mr. F. Smith read a paper containing “ Descriptions of new Species of 
Hymenopterous Insects of New Zealand, collected by Prof. Hutton at 
Otago.” The author exhibited a collection of the insects in illustration of 
the paper, in which seventeen new species are described. 
Mr. A. G. Butler read a paper “On the Lepidoptera of the Amazons 
collected by Dr. James W. H. Trail during the years 1878 to 1875.” 
Dr. Sharp communicated “ Descriptions of eight new Species and a new 
Geuus of Cossonides from New Zealand,” and “ Descriptions of some new 
Species and a new Genus of Rhynchophorous Coleoptera from the Hawaian 
Islands.”—R. Mextpoxa, Hon. Sec. 
* I have previously insisted on this distinction (Proc. Zool. Soc., Feb. 4, 1873).— 
R. M. 
——* 
