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SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Entomological Society of London. 



July 2, 1884.— J. W. Dunning, Esq., M.A., F.L.S., &c., President, 

 in the chair. 



Dr. Fritz Miiller (Blumenau, Santa Cathariua, Brazil) and Dr. A. S. 

 Packard (Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.) were balloted for and elected 

 Honorary Members of the Society ; and Charles Golding Barrett, Esq., 

 was elected an Ordinary Member. 



Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse remarked on the great changes which occurred 

 in the colours of insects from exposure to light, changes so startling that 

 they would certainly mislead anybody not cognisant of the fact; as a rule, 

 brilliant fiery red became changed to bright green, blue to black, green to 

 purple or purplish brown, and pale yellow to light brown. In illustration, 

 Mr. Waterhouse exhibited certain specimens of the following Coleoptera 

 before and after exposure in the show-cases of the British Museum : — 

 Eurhinus cupratus, Illig., Poropleura bacca, Kirby, Eumolpus Ignitus, Fabr., 

 Doryphora cincta, Germ., and Omoplata aulica, Bohem. Mr. W. L. Distant 

 remarked that from this cause quite recently old and exposed specimens of 

 Lepidoptera had been described as new species. 



Mr. E. P. Collett exhibited a specimen of Calosoma sycophanta, Fabr,, 

 captured on the cliff near Foreness Point, Kent, by Mr. Cockerill, in 1879 ; 

 also thirteen females oi Athous dijformis, Lac, captured last June by sweeping 

 at night at Guestling, near Hastings, by the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield. 



Dr. Sharp exhibited two nests or cocoons he had received from Mr. James 

 Inglis, of Dilkhoosha, India, each containing a large stag-beetle, Odonto- 

 labus carinatus, Keitter. These nests were constructed in the thatch of a 

 house, which was mixed with much earthy matter, and were lined with some 

 fine earthy substance making the interior smooth. Mr. Inglis sent them 

 under the impression they were the hybernacula or " winter-nests " of the 

 stag-beetle ; but they were more probably the cocoons in which the insect 

 had undergone its transformation to the imago state, although it was im- 

 probable that the larva of so large an insect should live in and feed on 

 the thatch. 



Dr. Sharp also exhibited a small insect recently received, together with its 

 larva and peculiar nests constructed by the latter, from Senor Antonio de 

 Lacerda, of Bahia. The beetle is a small Cassida identified by Mr. Water- 

 house as Poiphyraspis tristis, Dej. Senor Lacerda states that they are found 

 on the " young leaves of the cotto-nut tree." The larva constructs a nest, 

 similar in form to a bird's nest, and composed of coarse vegetable fibres, 

 which are apparently attached to the insect by a membranous process 



