Entomological Society. 3499 



de Zoologie,' 1852, No. 3 ; by M. Guerin Meneville. 'Exotic Butterflies,' by W. 

 C. Hewitson, No. 2 ; by W. W. Saunders, Esq. A collection of several orders of in- 

 sects of Ceylon ; by Mr. Thwaites, M.E.S. A specimen of Oryctes Martabani ; by 

 Mr. Pratt. 



The President announced that the Society had determined to offer a prize of £5 

 for the best essay on the duration of life in the queen, males, and workers of the honey 

 bee, the discovery of these points being of much economic value. Each essay to be 

 addressed " To the President and Council of the Entomological Society," without the 

 author's name attached, and to be delivered before the 31st of December ; the name 

 and address of the author to be forwarded separately. 



Mr. Edwin Shepherd exhibited a male specimen, in fine condition, of Notodonla 

 Carmelita, taken by Mr. Hill, on the 2nd instant, at West Wickham Wood, on the 

 trunk of an oak. 



The President informed the meeting that among the insects received from Mr. 

 Thwaites, were many rare species, and nearly half the number were unique specimens. 



Mr. Adam White exhibited drawings of the nests of two species of spiders ; the 

 one, found by S. S. Saunders, Esq., in Albania, was formed of the seed-vessels of Pa- 

 liurus aculeatus, four of which were arranged symmetrically, and connected by a web: 

 the other was found by M. Weilenmann, of St. Gall, Switzerland, in a wood near Per- 

 nambuco ; it was of a grayish white colour, with a penthouse-like roof, on which were 

 seven rows of scale-like appendages, and a row round the margin ? it was attached by 

 a pedicel, three inches long, to a leaf. M. Weilenmann informed Mr. White that the 

 spider was small, but Mr. White believed he had seen only the young ones. 



Mr. White exhibited specimens of a minute Podura, found by Dr. Sutherland on 

 the ice, some miles from the shore of Wellington Channel, under a species of Nostoc 

 growing there. It was closely related to the Desoria glacialis, Nicolet, which M. De- 

 sor found among the glaciers of the Swiss Alps, in countless numbers, under stones or 

 on the margins of" crevasses et cles baignoires." MM. Desor, Pourtales, and Agassiz 

 also saw them running into ice, apparently very compact, but on breaking off a piece 

 it was found to be pierced with numerous canals, into which the Desoriae leaped and 

 ran, looking like drops of blood. — (Desor, in ' Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve,' 

 n. s. xxxii. p. 125, pi. 2). 



Dr. Sutherland added, in answer to a question from the President, that he only 

 found this Podura under the Nostoc ; and that although it was in plenty, the indivi- 

 duals remained free, and did not assemble in masses after the manner of the common 

 English Podura. But he had also found what he thought were two other distinct 

 species, under stones where no Nostoc grew. 



Mr. White also exhibited some more of the insects collected in the Himalayas by 

 Dr. J. D. Hooker, pointing out especially a beautiful minute Cicindela, a Cercidoee- 

 rus with two while lines on the thorax, a Distenia, several pretty Phytophaga, includ- 

 ing Adimonia variolaris, Aplosonyx fasciatus, &c, the Hemipterous Poecilothroma 

 Childreni, a new spider of the genus Gastrocantha, and one of the Myriapodous ge- 

 nus Zephronia. 



Mr. A. F. Sheppard exhibited specimens of Halias clorana, bred from osiers at 

 Fulham, and a Cerura vinula, var. minax, Hub. 



Mr. Grant exhibited twelve specimens of the rare Adela cuprella, obtained by re- 

 peated visits to the dwarf sallows on Wimbledon Common during the late cold month 

 of April. 



