256 [March, 1872 
gusto, a story of an event that befel him when he took his magisterial seat as High 
Sheriff of Dorsetshire. Some wag, fully aware of Mr. Dale’s proclivities, let loose 
a swarm of butterflies in court, and, while this may have in some degree detracted 
from the dignity of his office, there can be no doubt that no one more heartily 
enjoyed the joke than did he against whom it was directed. 
Mr. Dale took his first degree at Cambridge in 1815, and became M.A. in 1818. 
Considerably more than half a century of a life spent in entomological pursuits 
cannot be done justice to in the space at our disposal. We have, at the present 
time, no means of knowing what may become of Mr. Dale’s extensive collections. 
He married in 1848, and leaves two sons, who possess their father’s taste for ento- 
mology: it is, therefore, possible that these collections may remain in the family. 
Entomo.LoaicaL Sociery or Lonpon, Anniversary, 22nd January, 1872.— 
A. R. Wattace, Esq., F.L.8., President, in the Chair. 
The Rev. T. A. Marshall, and Messrs. H. W. Bates, A. Miller, and F. Smith 
were elected into the Council to replace Members retiring therefrom. 
Prof. J. O. Westwood was elected President for the ensuing year; Mr. 8. 
Stevens, Treasurer; Messrs. Mc Lachlan and Grut, Secretaries; and Mr. Janson, 
Librarian. 
The outgoing President read an address, for which, and for his services during 
the past year, a unanimous vote of thanks was tendered. The proceedings termi- 
nated with the usual vote of thanks to the other officers of the Society. 
5th February, 1872.—Prof. J. O. Wrestwoop, M.A., F.L.S., President, in the 
Chair. 
The President thanked the Society for the honour it had done him in again 
electing him to fill his present office; and he appointed Messrs. E. Saunders, 
F. Smith, and H. T. Stainton, as Vice-Presidents. 
Mr. Mc Lachlan brought before the meeting an illustration of the manner in 
which the ravages of Aphides are checked by Hymenopterous parasites. A twig 
of poplar, placed in his hands by Dr. Knaggs, was occupied by a family of plant- 
lice, and every individual had been attacked by a parasite (probably an Aphidius), 
so that there remained only the inflated skins, resembling eggs of some large moth, 
each of which presented a circular hole whence the parasite had emerged. 
Mr. Druce exhibited a selection from an extensive collection of butterflies from 
Costa Rica formed by Dr. Van Patten. The collection included about 50 new 
species, among which were four of Papilio, three of Morpho, three or four of 
Leptalis, a new genus of Satyride, &c., &e. 
Prof. Westwood exhibited drawings and specimens of various species of 
Acaride new to Britain. Of these the most remarkable was a Trogulus (T. ruji- 
tarsis) received from Dorsetshire, allied to T. nepiformis of the south of Hurope. 
Another form pertained to the genus Argas, which includes the poisonous A. per- 
sicus) ; and this had been found in the crypt of Canterbury cathedral. 
Mr. Bond had also obtained specimens of another species found in a church 
on a gentleman’s coat, after two young bats had fallen upon him from the roof. 
Major Parry read descriptions of various new species of exotic Lucanide ; 
and was followed by the reading of further remarks on insects of this family by 
Prof. Westwood and M. Snellen van Vollenhoven. 
