7220 Insects. 



strange connecting link between the spiders and scorpions, yclept Phrynura and very 

 beautifully figured, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Curtis in Griffiths' ' Cuvier's Animal 

 Kingdom ;' it is a harmless arachnidan, inert and sluggish, and spins no web: it most 

 resembles in its habits the " harvesl-men" of English stubble-fields. Here, too, I 

 come across some living specimens of that curious snail Slreptaxis, crawling over the 

 moist leaves, and am surprised to find it extrude a very respectable proboscis, which 

 at once removes it from the herbivorous Helicidae: it should form a family of itself, 

 Streptaxidae, to follow Oleacinidae, and in turn be followed by Testacellidee, in the 

 same manner as we have Buliminee, Helicinae and Limacinae. But whither am I 

 wandering, and what has become of the " gold bug"? Some of our party had been 

 reading Edgar Poe's mysterious and imaginative tale of the bug, and, what is more, 

 actually believed in the existence of such an insect; and, as if to confirm them in this 

 belief, and to prove the wondrous bug to be no myth or fabulous creature of the poet's 

 brain, I captured in my sweeping-net a splendid glittering Cassida, the elytra and 

 thorax as of burnished gold. With laudable pride and exultation I display my prize ; 

 but, questionable mendacity, I also proclaim it to be the veritable gold bug of the 

 American. One of my companions, now wandering in the wildest parts of Borneo, — 

 a creature of as wild an imagination as the writer of the " Tales," — eagerly desires a 

 closer inspection — nay, he would hold it in his hand. Excited, he no sooner deposits 

 the envied object in his palm, and caught the glitter of its golden wings, than lo! 

 away flies the "gold bug," leaving dismay and amazement depicted in the faces of 

 the surrounding group. Vain were the regrets at the loss of the " bug of gold,"— not 

 another specimen was seen that (ksiy.— Arthur Adams. 



A Question fur Physiologists. — Last June I picked up at Pitton, near Salisbury, a 

 common cockchaffer (^Meloloniha vulgaris) alive, and crawling in the following con- 

 dition. Bight elytron removed, leaving abdomen uncovered, of which only the shell 

 remained, the intestinal organs having been all scooped out, excepting a very small 

 portion at the anal extremity. Thorax with two large cavities on the upper side. 

 Head, legs and feet uninjured. The cause of the injuries inflicted on the luckless 

 cockchaffer was probably a bird, but what struck me most was the apparent unconcern 

 with which the insect was able to move about. I placed it in a pill-box, and at the 

 end of twenty-four hours found it still alive, though in a torpid and dying state. 

 Query. — In what part of the insect was its vitality inherent ? — A. R. Hogan ; Ram- 

 pisham Rectory, Dorchester, September 3, 1860. 



Proceedings of Societies. 



Entomological Society. 



September 3, I860.— H. T. Stainton, Esq., V.P., in the chair. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented to 

 the donors: — ' Monographic des Elaterides,' par M. E. Caudeze, Tome troisieme ; 

 presented by the Author. ' Verbandlungen der Kaiserlich-Koniglichen Zoologisch- 

 Botanischen Gesellscbaft in Wien,' Vol. ix. ; by the Society. ' The Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society of London/ 1860, Parts L and II. ; by the Society. ' Stelliner 



