31 



sent specimens are from Japan. The species is also found in 

 Southern Africa (where it attains a larger size), and also on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean. These insects are in great 

 repute with the Bechuana tribes, who use them as amulets, 

 stringing them together on strips of leather, and hanging 

 them round the necks of their children, considering them 

 efficacious in time of teething, and particularly useful in 

 mitigating the various ills children are liable to. Latreille 

 informs us that the women of Ethiopia string these insects 

 together, and wear them round their necks as an amulet." 



Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell exhibited the following Mollusca : 



— Helix aspersa, Mull., var. lutescens, Helix hortensis, Mull., var. 

 rufozonatciy which he stated had been found living together on 

 a bank at Torquay by Mr. F. W. Wotton, of Cardiff. 



JANUARY 27th, 1887. 



R. South, Esq., F.E.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Mr. F. H. Barclay and Mr. C. Roberts were elected 

 members. 



Mr. J. Jenner Weir exhibited Nilasera pirama, Moore, 

 and N. amantes, Hewt, from Ceylon ; also a pieee of amber 

 containing three specimens of Chrysomelidae, one of Coccinel- 

 lidae, and one of Orthoptera. 



Mr. Billups exhibited living specimens of Rhagium bifas- 

 ciatum, Fab., from Braemar, and said that the species belonged 

 to Latreille's family of Longicornia. In the larval stage it lived 

 in old decaying trees, such as fir, oak, etc., in which it made a 

 cocoon of chips, attaining the imago state in the autumn, 

 but not finally leaving the tree until the spring. The speci- 

 mens exhibited were forwarded to a member of the Society, 

 among a number of larvae, in a canister of rotten wood, and 

 no doubt in their transit through the post the cocoons were 

 broken, which would account for the unusual appearance of 

 the imago at this season of the year. 



Mr. J. Jenner Weir contributed the following " Notes on 

 the Comparative Rarity of Lepidoptera-Rhopalocera, once 

 common in the neighbourhood of Lewes." 



