145 



' Tmmaclioits of the Entomological Society.'' 



Our own ' Transactions' have appeared as usual, four Paris liaving 

 been published during the year, thus proving the abundance of papers 

 which have been judged vi^orthy of publication by the entomologists 

 to whom they have been referred. The papers in these four Parts are 

 twelve in number: three treat of Ilymenoptera, six of Coleoptera, 

 one of Crustacea, one on " Entomological Difficulties," for which it 

 is difficult to find a less difficult title, and one on Structure : unless 

 that on " Difficulties " may be called Lepidopterous, there is not one 

 on Lepidoptera, Diptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera or Neuroptera : di- 

 viding them by other characters, eight are descriptive of species, one 

 is statistical, two critical and one physiological. Two of the papers 

 on Hymenoptera are from the pen of Mr. Smith, and one from that 

 of Mr. Desborough ; three of those on Coleoptera are by Mr. West- 

 wood, one by Mr. Baly, one by Mr. Janson, and one by Messrs. 

 Waterhouse and Janson : the contribution on Crustacea is by Mr. 

 Lubbock, and for " Difficulties " the Society is indebted to the ad- 

 monitorial Idndness of Mr. Stainton. Mr. Smith's papers are intituled 

 as under : — " Essay on the Genera and Species of British Formicidce," 

 and " Descriptions of some Species of Brazilian Ants belonging to 

 the Genera Pseudomyrma, Eciton and Myrmica." In the first of 

 these the author describes seven species of Formica, two of Tapinoma, 

 one of Ponera, fourteen of Myrmica, one of Myrmecina and one of 

 Stenamma. Two only of these species are new to Science, — Tapi- 

 noma polita, captured in Wales by Mr. Dale, in whose rich cabinet 

 it is unique, and Myrmica laevigata, captured by the author at Batter- 

 sea. In the second paper Mr. Smith describes nine species of Pseu- 

 domyrma, eight of which are new ; eight of Eciton, four of which are 

 new; and one of Myrmica, named M. sasvissima. Of the excellency 

 of Mr. Smith's descriptions it is quite superfluous to speak ; but it 

 raay be allowable to invite attention to the highly interesting details 

 of economy, from the pen of Mr. Bates, with which the second paper 

 is interspersed. Both the papers are accompanied by uncoloured 

 plates, containing outline figures of species and a great variety of 

 anatomical details. 



Mr. Desborough's paper is intituled " Observations of the Honey 

 Bee, in Continuation of the Prize Essay of the Entomological Society 

 for 1852." 



Mr. Westwood's papers are — 1. "Descriptions of Four Species of 

 Beetles belonging to the Family Paussidae : " these are Paussus 



