Entomological Society. 3717 



I had a living mature specimen brought to me yesterday, which had been caught by a 

 farmer's lad here. The lad, from its being unlike any moth he had seen, was induced 

 to send it to his master, who gave it to me ; and a splendid specimen it is, apparently 

 only just escaped from the chrysalis. — Thos. Thompson ; Welton, near Hawden, Sep- 

 tember 22, 1852. 



Voracity of the Dragon-fly. — The fact mentioned by Mr. Scott, as to the voracious 

 propensity of the large dragon-fly (Zool. 3628), is corroborative of a similar one, re- 

 corded by me in the ' Entomological Magazine,' (i. 518). — J. F. Stephens ; Eltham 

 Cottage, Foxley Road, October 18, 1852. 



Proceedings of the Entomological Society. 



November 1, 1852. — J. 0. Westwood, Esq., President, in the chair. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be given to the 

 donors : — ' The Zoologist' for November; by the Editor. ' The Athenaeum ' for Oc- 

 tober ; by the Editor. ' The Literary Gazette ' for October ; by the Editor. ' Ento- 

 mologische Zeitung ' for August, September, and October ; by the Entomological 

 Society of Stettin. 4 Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York,' Vol. 

 v. Nos. 4, 5, and 6 ; by the Lyceum. ' Monographie des Guepes Solitaires, ou de la 

 Tiibe des Eumeniens,' par H. F. de Saussure : cahier 2: Paris, 1852 ; by the Author. 

 A lithograph portrait of Dr. J. E. Gray, framed and glazed; by Mr. F. Smith. Four 

 specimens of Coremia erutaria, and two of Eidophasia Messingiella ; by Mr. J. B. 

 Hodgkinson. Two specimens of Flydraecia Petasitis ; by Mr. N. Greening. A col- 

 lection of British Anoplura, or bird-lice (named by Mr. Denny), three large store- 

 boxes, and some miscellaneous insects; by the Eev. Leonard Jenyr.s. A series of il- 

 lustrations of the natural history of Vespa Britannica ; by Mr. F. Smith. A box con- 

 taining sixty species of British spiders, preserved in spirit in small glass tubes ; by 

 Mr. E. H. Meade. 



A letter accompanied the last-mentioned donation, in which Mr. Meade says : — 



" The species are arranged and named according to the catalogue recently pub- 

 lished by Mr. Blackwall in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History.' The spe- 

 cies are mostly very common, and my motive iu sending them to the Society is not to 

 present them with anything rare, but to show what I consider to be the best method 

 of preserving specimens of this class of animals, which cannot, like true insects, be 

 kept dry, without entirely losing their characteristic forms. When placed in small 

 glass tubes, filled with spirit of wine and well corked, they may be preserved for any 

 length of time, and, except for purposes of critical examination, may be sufficiently 

 seen, without removal from the tube, for the purpose cf determining the species." 



Mr. Boyd exhibited a fine Vanessa Antiopa, and specimens of Luperina cespitis, 

 Depressaria Carduella, D. rotundella, D. pallorella, and other species of Lepidoptera, 

 recently captured in the Isle of Wight. 



Major Sheppard exhibited a hermaphrodite Polyommatus Alexis, taken this year 

 in Hainault Forest. The right side is male and the left female, as is usual in such cases. 



Mr. Winter exhibited a fine Chserocampa Nerii, taken at Brighton ; a remarkable 

 variety of Spilosoma Menthrasti, with very large black spots on the under wings ; and 

 a singularly pale variety of Oporabia dilutata. 



