4600 Entomological Society. 



Note on Helobia impressa, Newman. 



The President read the following memorandum on Helobia impressa: — 



" I beg to exhibit some specimens of the insect which twenty-three years ago I 

 ventured to describe as distinct, under the name of Helobia impressa ; and I do this, 

 not because I am now at all persuaded of its distinctness, but because the Rev. Mr. 

 Dawson appears to have been unacquainted with the insect at the time he was pre- 

 paring his invaluable ' Geodephaga Britannica.' Helobia impressa was found at a 

 great altitude, on Ben Nevis and Ben Voirlich, by our friend Mr. Walker, and was 

 distributed by him amongst entomologists at the time : the specimen which I beg to 

 exhibit was captured by him. The difference between this and the common Welsh 

 insect, Helobia nivalis, is this: — in nivalis, one interspace of each elytron, the third 

 counting from the suture, is impressed with large deep foveae ; in impressa, two of these 

 interspaces, the third and fifth, are thus impressed, giving the insect, at the first 

 glance, a very different appearance. After having read Mr. Wollaston's admirable re- 

 marks on the effects of isolation on species, I will not presume to dwell on the 

 importance of the character on which the species is founded, but I trust entomologists 

 will agree with me that the subject is worthy of investigation, and that this very 

 doubtful species ought at least to be separated from its Cambrian congeners as a named 

 and locally isolated variety." 



Improvements in Bee-hives. 



Mr. Downie exhibited a model of a wooden bee-hive, containing, as he explained, 

 several important improvements, proved by its use for the last three years. The im- 

 provements consisted of a moveable open floor with bars placed transversely to the 

 bars of the hive, sliding above the true floor of the hive, and affording great facility 

 for removing dead bees in winter without admitting cold air, a circumstance on which 

 he laid much stress, as by the ordinary method of lifting the hive for the purpose of 

 clearing the floor the bees were injured by the reduced temperature in the hive ; and 

 where the dead bees were not removed, as was too common, the effluvium arising 

 therefrom was most prejudicial to the living bees: this winter, within a circuit of nine 

 miles from his residence, he knew five hundred hives in which the bees had perished 

 either from this cause or the want of ventilation. Another improvement was a set 

 of openings below the false floor and at the top of the hive, which could be closed en- 

 tirely or partly at pleasure, as occasion required, and by which the ventilation of the 

 hive was at all times secured. The third improvement was a shallow zinc feeding- 

 trough at the side of the moveable floor. The whole hive was surrounded by a loose 

 wooden cover. 



" Notes on the Economy of Various Insects." 



Under the above title the following notes, by John Curtis, Esq., were read : — 



" As nothing can contribute so essentially to the advancement of the science of 

 Entomology as a correct knowledge of the economy of insects, whether we regard 

 their influence on the vegetable productions of the earth, or study them as a branch of 

 Natural Science which has occupied the attention of some of the most celebrated phi- 

 losophers of antiquity as well as those of our own age, I shall make no apology for 

 laying this sketch of the habits and transformations of some species but little known, 

 and to which I shall hope to make additions as opportunities may offer. 



