1898.] THE SECE.ETAKY OW LaSPIDOPTEEOTTS INSECTS. 81 



Of the Lepidopterous Insects which I have the honour to place 

 before the meeting, Sphinx lucitiosa and Smerintlms my ops, from 

 North America, Imbrasia epimeatJien and Bunea pJicedusa from 

 Sierra Leone, were exhibited for the first time in 1897. 



During the past summer five specimens of the Goliath Beetle, 

 Goliatlius druryi, have been exhibited. They fed well upon 

 bananas, but I am sorry to say they are all dead. The single 

 male received I exhibit this evening. 



One of the most interesting exhibits of the past summer and 

 at the present time is a colony of the Parasol Ant (CEcodoma 

 cephalotes). These ants were presented by Mr. P. W. Urich, 

 and were brought to England from Trinidad, by Mr. E. R. Mole, 

 C.M.Z.S., and were received on May 11, 1897. 



I had a zinc tray made for the curious insects, with a moat 

 round it, which was filled with water to prevent their escape. At 

 one end of the tray I placed the package containing the ants on a 

 little table, and at the other end a small growing rose-tree in a pot. 

 The pot and the table were connected by means of a dead tree- 

 branch. The ants soon found their way across this bridge and 

 immediately set to work to close up the openings of the box in 

 which they had ti^avelled with the mould in which the rose-tree 

 was growing. In a day or two the ants began to cut pieces out 

 of the leaves of the rose-tree, and these they carried across the 

 bridge, into what 1 might call their nest. 



Towards the autumn the ants appeared to get tired of their 

 quarters, and persistently carried the refuse from the nest and 

 dropped it into the water, with the idea, I thiuk, of bridging it 

 over and thus getting across. I then put into the middle of the 

 tray a pot of fresh mould, and cut the bridge into two pieces, 

 but no notice was taken of this. The ants still kept throwing the 

 refuse into the water, and would no doubt, if left alone, have soon 

 made a way across the moat. 



When rose-leaves were not obtainable, the ants were fed upon 

 orange-peel, and carried into the nest the inside pith of the peel. 



Of Spiders, examples of two very interesting species have been 

 exhibited. The first received was a specimen of Scodra calceata, 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. F. W. Marshal on the 27th 

 March, which died on the 12th Sept., 1897. The second was a 

 very fine specimen of Poecilotheria striata from India, presented by 

 Mr. H. E. P. Carter on the 21st Oct. last. This fine Spider, I 

 regret to say, only Uved two days in the Gardens. An interesting 

 account of this Spider will be found in the ' Field ' of Oct. 30, 

 1897 (vol. xe. p. 705). 



The Secretary exhibited a series of Lepidopterous Insects 

 prepared and set by Mr. S. W. Denton, of Wellesley, Mass., U.S.A., 

 in illustration of the system adopted in ' Denton's Patent Butterfly 

 Tablets,' as well adapted for public museums where close exami- 

 nation was not required. 



Proc. Zooi.. Soo,— 1898, No. VI. 6 



