43 



wbeie the dead bees were not removed, as was too common, the effluvium arising 

 therefrom was most prejudicial to the living bees: this winter, within a circuit of nine 

 miles from bis residence, be knew five hundred hives in which the bees had perished 

 either from this cause or the want of ventilation. Another improvement was a set 

 of openings below the false floor and at the top of the hive, which could be closed en- 

 tirely or partly at pleasure, as occasion required, and by which the ventilation of the 

 hive was at all times secured. The third improvement was a shallow zinc feeding- 

 trough at the side of the moveable floor. The whole hive was surrounded by a loose 

 wooden cover. 



" Notes on the Economy of Various Insects." 

 Under the above title the following notes, by John Curtis, Esq., were read: — 



" As nothing can contribute so essentially to the advancement of the science of 

 Entomology as a correct knowledge of the economy of insects, whether we regard 

 their influence on the vegetable productions of the earth, or study them as a branch of 

 Natural Science which has occupied the attention of some of the most celebrated phi- 

 losophers of antiquity as well as those of our own age, 1 shall make no apology for 

 laying before the Society this sketch of the habits and transformations of some species 

 but little known, and to which I shall hope to make additions as opportunities may 

 off'er. 



" In 1844 Col. Goureau contributed a memoir upon this subject to the Entomolo- 

 gical Society of France,* full of truth and interest, and I trust the following observa- 

 tions may throw some light upon the early stages of various families of insects. I 

 regret that several years have passed since many of the discoveries were communicated 

 to me, and those facts which fell under my immediate observation were principally 

 collected in the year 1848, in the Isle of Wight, in company with my esteemed and 

 lamented friend Dr. Wm. Arnold Bromfield. 



" Anthemis Cotula. Stinking Chamomile. 



" On the 10th of August at least half the flower-heads around Ryde had the recep- 

 tacles infested by little maggots, which ate into the solid parts, giving them a brown 

 appearance when the florets were removed. They were cylindrical, shining and 

 whitish, with two very minute sharp black hooks at the head. When arrived at ma- 

 turity they contracted themselves, and assumed an oval form: they then changed in- 

 side the receptacle, or in cavities eaten on the surface, to oval pitchy pupoe, from which 

 a fly {Tephritis radiaia) emerged on the 12lb of August. There were also scarlet 

 larva) of a Cecidomyia and various others, which evidently escaped my search from 

 their minuteness, as from the flowers I bred the following insects : — from the 20th to 

 the 28th August, Tephritis radiata,2^«6., 9 specimens ; Cecidomyia, 2 ; Lasioptera, 3; 

 Phytomyza lateralis. Fall., 3. 



"The Hon. C. Harris first detected the larvae of the Phytomyza feeding in the re- 

 ceptacles of Pyrethrum inodorum.f The cocoons are elongate, cylindric, the ends 



* ' Notes pour servir a I'Histoire des Insectes qui vivent dans le Chardon pencbe 

 (Carduus nutans),' par M. le Colonel Goureau. 2nd Series, v. 3, p. 75, pi. 2, 

 i Vide Curtis's Brit. Ent. fol. and pi. 393. 



