﻿1809.] 19 



whose extensive knowledge of Coleoptera is indisputable ; and the rest seems tolera- 

 bly correct. The illustrations are, as a rule, well engraved ; yet many are very 

 poor, being of the well-known unnatural French type, and the worst are those 

 taken from older authors, which seem to be pressed into their service by all French 

 popular writers on insects with such accurate copying, that one is almost induced 

 to fancy that the same wood-blocks do duty in rival publications. The work is 

 handsomely got up, and will no doubt form an attractive ornament on many drawing- 

 room tables. 



We cannot refrain from remarking on the low price at which these French 

 works are published, as compared with similar English ones, though the demand 

 on the other side of the Channel can scarcely be greater than here. The secret 

 lies in the cost of production, and it is a humiliating fact that the artistic work of 

 a volume like this can probably be done on the Continent for almost a tithe of what 

 it would cost in England. Even printing in the English language can be executed 

 in some of the large German towns at a far lower rate than at home, and on equally 

 good paper. We say this in no disparagement of an enterprising class of artizans : 

 the difficulty remains to be solved by the political economist. 



Entomological Society of London, Zrd May, 1869. H. W. Bates, Esq., 

 F.Z.S., President, in the Chair. 



C. O. Waterhouse, Esq., Assistant in the Zoological Department of the British 

 Museum, was elected a Member. 



Mr. Stevens exhibited a large collection of Chinese Coleoptera. 



Mr. Butler mentioned that the West African Conocephalus, exhibited by him 

 at the Meeting on the 15th February last, was still alive, though it had eaten 

 nothing. 



Professor Westwood exhibited, and remarked upon, several species of Ephyris 

 and other Hymenoptera of doubtful position, including an example of Calyoza 

 ■staphylinoides, Hope, taken at large at Natal, the species having been originally 

 described and figured (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1st series, vol. ii, p. 56, pi. 7, fig. 11), from 

 an example enclosed in Gum Anime. 



Mr. Home read some observations on the habits of various Indian insects. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited both sexes of a Cynips sent to Mr. Darwin by Mr. 

 Walsh, as recorded in the last number of this Magazine (vol. v, p. 298). Con- 

 cerning this most interesting discovery we give the following extract from Mr. 

 Walsh's paper in the " American Entomologist " for February, 1869 : — 



" The true ' Oak-apple,' as it is popularly called, occurs exclusively upon the 

 Black Oak (Quercus tinctoria). It commences its growth in May, or as soon as the 

 young leaves put forth, and reaches its full size in a few weeks. The central cell, 

 in which the larva resides, becomes eventually hard and woody, but the space 

 between that cell and the external skin or rind of the gall is always completely 

 filled by soft, drab, spongy matter. By the fore-part, or middle, of June, both 

 male and female gall-flies (Cynips Q.-spongifica, O.S.) eat their way out of a certain 

 number — say about a fourth part — of these galls. The remaining larvas lie dormant 

 for more than two months, when they change into the pupa-state, and subsequently, 

 about October, eat their way out in the form of gall-flies (Cynips Q.-aciculata, O.S), 



