464 Chronicles of Science. [Jtil^, 



female Microgaster deposits a large number of eggs in one larva, and 

 it is probable that a larva, once attacked, is freed from further moles- 

 tation ; the parasites knowing instinctively that the larva could only 

 nourish a certain quantity to maturity. Possibly, therefore, the 

 Microgaster attacking the above larva was disturbed after laying but 

 very few eggs, and the produce of these was not sufficient to destroy 

 the Pieris larva. If the parasites had not escaped previous to 

 the transformation of their victim into the pupa state, they would 

 naturally be unable to force their way through the hard pupa skin ; 

 and, as it seems, would form their cocoons inside, and be dragged out 

 by the struggles of the butterfly to escape." 



M. l'Abbe de Marseul has given descriptions of the Histeridce 

 collected by Mr. Wallace, in ' L'Abeille.' There are 101 species, of 

 which 54 are new. Dr. A. Dohrn continues his descriptions of New 

 Dermaptera in the ' Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung.' The fourth 

 ' trimestre ' of the French Entomological Society has not yet been 

 received. 



Entomological Society. 



At the March meeting of the Society, Mr. M'Lachlan read a paper, 

 entitled, " Trichoptera Britannica : a Monograph of the British 

 species of Caddis-flies." 124 species are described, belonging to forty- 

 three genera. Mr. Pascoe read a paper " On Generic Names having 

 the same Sound," in which he strongly deprecated the practice recently 

 adopted by some Continental naturalists, of changing generic names 

 whenever they happened to differ but slightly from previous names. 

 At the same meeting it was announced that the Council of the Society 

 had determined to offer two prizes, of five guineas each, to the authors 

 of the two best Essays or Memoirs on the anatomy, economy, or 

 habits of any insect or group of insects which is in any way ser- 

 viceable or obnoxious to mankind. 



At the April meeting, Mr. Bates read a paper " On Agra," a genus 

 of Carabidaa. The species are arboreal in their habits, and possess 

 crepitating powers, the explosion not being audible, but capable of 

 being distinctly felt, and leaving a stain upon the fingers. There 

 were 140 species described, mostly by the Baron de Chaudoir ; 

 Mr. Bates now adds sixteen new species taken by himself in the 

 Amazon region. Some very peculiar kinds of galls (if some of them 

 were really the productions of insects) collected by Mr. Lowne in 

 Syria, were exhibited by Mr. W. Wilson Saunders. An extract from 

 a letter was read by Mr. Pascoe, in which the writer mentioned that 

 the sounds emitted by a species of Bolboceras found burrowing in the 

 hard roads at Gawler, South Australia, were caused by rubbing the 

 tarsi against the coxse. Some doubts were expressed as to the accu- 

 racy of the writer's observations. 



At the meeting in May, the Reverend Hamlet Clark read " De- 

 scriptions of new Phytophaga from West Australia." Among them 

 was a very abnormal form belonging to the family Eumolpida? ; it is 

 a leaping insect, but the saltatorial power is given not by the pes- 



