3718 Eyitomological Society. 



Mr. Weaver exhibited a quantity of insects, taken by him this year in Perthshire. 

 The Coleoptera included Hyleccetus dermestoides, Dircaea discolor, Lycus Aurora, 

 Boletophagus crenicollis, Aphodius uliginosus, Hardy, A. Lapponum, Pytho depres- 

 sus, and Brontes fiavipes. Also Cetonia aenea, bred from larvae which fed in ants' nests 

 on the pupae of the ants ; the cocoons being covered with small bits of wood, and thus 

 differing from those of C. aurata, which are formed entirely of earth. Among the Le- 

 pidoptera were Oporabia neglectaria, 0. precursoria, O. autumnaria, O. proximaria, O. 

 filigrammaria, Plemysia lapidata, Tinea Picarella, and Psyche opacella, var. ? The 

 different series of Oporabia under the above names Mr. Weaver believes to be distinct 

 species, and that the Psyche he gets in Scotland is not P. opacella, which it most 

 closely resembles, differing in the males being larger and having longer antennae, and 

 in the habits and formation of the cases of the larvae. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited a series of illustrations of the natural history of the tree- 

 wasp (Vespa Britannica), among which the President drew special attention to the 

 fact that the larva makes a distinct case or cocoon within its cell. 



Mr. Smith also exhibited various parasitic insects found in the nest of the same 

 wasp. 



Mr. Moor exhibited a walnut, in which he had found several Dipterous larvae be- 

 longing to the family Muscidae, some of which he had reared to the perfect state. 



Mr. S.S. Saunders exhibited some Chalcididae, parasitic in the nests of an Osmia, 

 and some Dipterous parasites on a Pompilus. Also, a complete series of illustrations 

 of the natural history of six species of Stylopidae ; all brought by him from Albania. 



Mr. Edwin Shepherd exhibited a variety of Lepidoptera recently captured near 

 Dover, including Agrotis saucia, Heliothis armigera, Hadena lutulenta, Spilodes stic- 

 ticalis, Depressaria depressana, D. Pimpinellae, and a new species of Gelechia allied 

 to vilella. 



Mr. Douglas exhibited the larvae of several species of Nepticula, mining in leaves 

 of various plants. 



The President exhibited a curious cottony formation from the body of the larva of 

 a Sphinx, forwarded from China by Mr. J. C. Bowring. It consisted of the cocoons 

 of a parasitic Eurytoma, and some of the perfect insects were left entangled. 



The President also exhibited some of the plates of M. Emile Blanchard's new 

 great work entitled ' L'Organisation du Regne Animal.' 



Mr. Moore communicated the following extract from ' Allen's Indian Mail,' of 

 October 5, 1852. 



" Gigantic Spiders. — Captain Sherwill, in an expedition to the Kurrukpoor Hills, 

 south of Monghyr, found upon the summit of Maruk, a table-topped hill of 1,100 feet 

 elevation, several of the gigantic webs of the Epeira spider, some of which measured 

 (including the guy-ropes) from 10 to 20 feet in diameter, the reticulated portion being 

 about 5 feet, in the centre of which the spider, of a formidable size and very active, 

 sits waiting for prey. ' The webs ' he says ' from their great strength offered a sensible 

 resistance when forcing our way through them ; in the web of one of the spiders we 

 found a bird entangled, and the young spiders, about eight in number, feeding upon 

 the carcass. The bird was, with the exception of his legs and beak, entirely enveloped 

 in web, and was much decomposed ; the entwined web had completely pinioned the 

 wings of the bird, so as to render his escape impossible. The bird was about the size 

 of a field lark, and was near the centre of the web ; the old spider was about a foot 



