Entomological Society. 3523 



from these cocoons, which were green, flat, and shaped like a stock-seed, the pupa- 

 skin was seen projecting. 



The President read a letter addressed to him by Robert Smart, Esq., of Sunder- 

 land, describing a trap for cockroaches commonly sold in the crockery-ware shops of 

 that town. " It resembles'' he says " an inverted basin, with a hole about an inch in 

 diameter at the top, the sides being somewhat rough and rather indented. But the 

 grand desideratum" he continues " is some substance that the insects will greedily eat 

 and which will poison them ; in my humble opinion it is a matter not undeserving a 

 scientific investigation, and not unworthy the attention of the Entomological Society." 



The President read the following letter from William Atkinson, Esq. : — 



" 32, Gordon St., Gordon Square, 



"May 31, 1852. 



" Dear Sir, 



" In March, 1849, I had some correspondence with you respecting the 

 insect that eats the corks in bottles of wine in cellars ; and observing by the Reports 

 of the Entomological Society that the subject has been brought before you twice re- 

 cently, I have much pleasure in presenting herewith to the Cabinet of the Society, a 

 specimen I have succeeded in capturing, which I presume will remove any doubt as 

 to its being the larva of a Lepidopterous insect that commits the ravages complained 

 of. It is somewhat extraordinary that although in every visit to my cellar I make an 

 examination, I have never yet seen a moth or found a chrysalis. 



"The question has been debated in your room — 'How to get rid of this nuisance?' 

 In my opinion, in addition to cutting close and sealing the corks, the wine should be 

 re-binned perfectly free from saw-dust, at the same time carefully removing the saw- 

 dust from the cellar ; for in the saw-dust the caterpillar no doubt changes into the 

 chrysalis, and the moth lays its eggs. It is through this medium, I feel certain, the 

 mischief is transmitted from the wine-merchant's cellars. 



" It appears to me, that the insect cannot possibly be imported in the cork, as has 

 been suggested, after it has undergone the process of firing, and sometimes, I believe, 

 of boiling, and also the cutting into corks. The very act of driving a cork into a bot- 

 tle would certainly crush any eggs, in which state only could the insect be in the 

 corks ; and I should think it unlikely that the moth is furnished with the means of pe- 

 netrating the cork, to deposit its eggs therein. 



" Begging you will excuse my offering these opinions on the subject, 



" I remain, yours obediently, 



" Wm. Atkinson, F.L.S., &c." 



" J. 0. Westwood, Esq." 



The specimen sent was the shrivelled larva of a small Lepidopterous insect, appa- 

 rently that of Oinophila v-flava. 



Mr. F. Smith read a note entitled "Observations on a Paper by G. Newport, Esq., 

 F.R.S., 'On the Anatomy and Development of certain Chalcidida? and Ichneumonidae, 

 compared with their special Economy and Instincts ; with Descriptions of a new Ge- 

 nus of Bee-parasites,' in the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' vol. xxi. part 1." 



The Secretary read a paper communicated by Mr. H. W. Bates, " On the Habits 

 of the Coleopterous Megacephalae of the Amazonian Region.'' 



Mi. White observed that it would be well to inform collectors at the Cape of Good 



