3270 Entomological Society. 



The President, in exhibiting the Cecidomyiae presented by Mr. Brown, read the 

 following extracts from letters received from that gentleman : — 



" Last year, when examining the economy of Cecidomyia Tritici, I discovered 

 another species of the same genus, which appeared to me also to be attached to the 

 wheat, but I was not then able to verify my observations. I have, however, this year 

 been more fortunate, and have seen the dark-winged species in the act of depositing 

 its eggs in the ears of flowering wheat, exactly as is the habit of C. Tritici. All the 

 specimens sent are females, as I have only been able to find one male, and I cannot 

 at present tell to which species it belongs. The males appear to be excessively rare, 

 or appear very early. Curtis says he has never seen the male of C. Tritici. I have 

 swept at least two other species of Cecidomyia from the wheat, besides re-discovering 

 the spotted-winged species which Markham bred about sixty years ago from wheat. 

 I have however taken only two specimens of Markham's species, and about the other 

 species I know at present too little to bring them under notice." 



" I send herewith two preparations of the flea of the hen-roost, showing the insect 

 in its three stages. I find the larvae in the dust on the floor of the hen-house, appa- 

 rently living on the fragments of feathers and scales from the quills of the fowls ; some 

 of them changed to chrysalids whilst in my possession, forming a slight cocoon of par- 

 ticles of dust. 



" Wilson's article on Entomology in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' contains a 

 strange error respecting the habits of Echinomyia grossa. He states, on the autho- 

 rity of Reaumur !! that it is bred in cow-dung ; but it is really bred in the larva and 

 pupa of the egger moth, (Lasiocampa Quercus). I always took Reaumur's cow-dung 

 species to be the common orange-shouldered fly whose name I know well, but which 

 at this moment I forget." 



Mr. Douglas said that in the August number of the ' Entomologische Zeitung 

 was an account of the habits of some of the species of Paussidae, which he had thought 

 sufficiently interesting to translate. The note was communicated by Herr Guenzius, 

 for some time and now resident at Port Natal, to Herr C. A. Dohrn, President of the 

 Stettin Entomological Society. 



" Port Natal is rich in species of Paussidae peculiar to itself, for I have found here, 

 besides one species of Pentaplatarthrus and four species of Cerapterus, nine other spe- 

 cies of Paussus. All the species dwell parasitically with ants which make their nests 

 variously, underground, under stones, or in timber. The larger Paussidae (Cerapterus 

 and Pentaplatarthrus) are supported by the larger ants, and the smaller by the smaller 

 ants. All the species are night-creatures, and fly during the spring, that is, from the 

 middle of October to December, especially in thundery weather, from 9 to 11 o'clock 

 in the evening. In February also I find Paussidae, but only the smaller species. Like 

 almost all night-creatures they are dazzled and attracted by light, and I have taken 

 my rarest Paussidae through open windows and doors on still warm nights. Their flight 

 is swift, and with a peculiar shrill sound, so that after hearing it I am sure to see abee- 

 tle. All the species contain a caustic liquid, which they eject in an audible manner 

 from the abdomen upon being seized. This liquid from Pentaplatarthrus Natalensis 

 stains one's fingers blood-red for several days ; from the larger species of Cerapterus, 

 the purplish brown of iodine ; from the Pleuropterus alternans, Westwood, it burns the 

 epidermis, forming white spots. The odour of this liquid is extremely pungent, like 

 ammonia, and reminds one also of iodine. The explosion is repeated, as in the Bra- 

 chini, three or four times, each time weaker than before, when it becomes exhausted. 



