Entomological Society. 2939 



also stated that he had received specimens of Apate Capucina, a beetle that had done 

 considerable damage in the same dockyard to oak timber received from Isturia. Ad- 

 verting to the case-making Lepidopterous larvae from pear-trees in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, exhibited at the meeting on the 3rd of June, Mr. Westwood said 

 they proved to be of two kinds, one having produced Coleophora nigricella, and the 

 other C. FJemerobiella. 



Mr. White read the following note on the boring powers of Monohammus 

 Sutor : — 



Messrs. Kirby and Spence in their world-read Introduction, record a striking 

 instance of the boring powers of another beetle of the Longicorn group, the Callidium 

 bajulum. Sir Joseph Banks gave to these gentlemen a piece of a sheet of lead, which, 

 though only eight inches long and four broad, was pierced with twelve oval holes, of 

 some of which the longest diameter is a quarter of an inch. 



In every case recorded, the lead has been over wood in which the larva or pupa 

 of the insect has been enclosed, and as insects in their unerring instinct generally 

 " go forward," the imago to get out to fulfil the object of its existence gnaws through 

 anything in the way, that can be reduced by its jaws. 



My friend Mr. Ainger lately had occasion to get a pipe repaired which had been 

 damaged by an insect ; the culprit is the Monohammus Sutor, and as Mr. Ainger 

 describes the circumstances well, I add his letter. 



" Dear Sir, — I send you the creature which perforated my leaden pipe, and the 

 enclosed sketch will explain the position of the pipe in reference to the round hole 

 in the timber, where the animal was found, and from which it must have been 

 trying to escape, when the pipe stopped its progress. The hole in the pipe had 

 very much the appearance of a screw-hole in a common iron hinge, with the 

 dishing or countersinking formed to receive the head of the screw. This counter- 

 sinking was not uniform, being on one side oblique, and on the other nearly vertical 

 to the surface of the pipe ; the differencewas evidently produced by the obliquity of 

 the line of progress, and by the fact of the animal's working in something like a he- 

 misphere, of which that line was the axis. I can give no indication of the time 

 occupied except this ; that the pipe was subjected to a high-service pressure seventy- 

 two hours, before the water burst through the aperture in question. The creature 

 when found was not quite dead, but veiy iuanimate, having been exposed to a violent 

 jet of water for above half-an-hour. I am, dear Sir, yours truly, Alfred Ainger." 



" What surprises me is, that these round holes in the timber are not more common. 

 The coincidence of finding a leaden pipe at the surface of the timber may easily be 

 very rare ; but I never before saw such a hole formed in wood, and I suppose the 

 animal is not uncommon ?'' 



Mr. White, on the part of Mrs. Hamilton, exhibited a small but most interesting 

 collection of insects of India, including the beetle referred to in her letter, read 

 July 1, and a specimen of the butterfly Danais Daos. 



He also exhibited a drawing by Mrs. Hamilton, of this butterfly, its larva and 

 pupa, which, besides being highly flattering to that lady as an evidence of her skill in 

 observing and delineating, was especially interesting as determining the relations of 

 the species, and showing that Mr. E. Doubleday, with his usual accuracy, was correct 

 in considering it to belong to the genus Danais rather than Hestia, with which it had 

 been associated. 



J. W. D. 



