Society of British Entomologists. 4741 



Singular State of a living Helops. — The power that insects and other creatures of 

 the same height in the scale of being possess of existing, with little apparent incon- 

 venience, under circumstances that would at once be fatal to any of the higher orders, 

 is so well known that, generally speaking, such cases are perhaps little worth recording. 

 The following is, I think, however, sufficiently remarkable to be mentioned: — Four or 

 five years ago, in investigating a hollow tree, in the park here, which had often repaid 

 my trouble, I noticed something singular in the appearance of a specimen of Helops 

 striatus, and, having secured it, found a small portion of one elytron was broken away, 

 and every vestige of the contents of the abdomen cleared. This could not have been 

 the result of any sudden crush or other accident, but must apparently have been the 

 work of ants, or something else of similar propensities, as the insect was otherwise un- 

 injured, yet, notwithstanding its condition — hollow as a lantern — it was crawling about 

 nearly as actively as if in its natural state: probably it had been thus some time, for 

 the ants, or whatever they were, must have consumed time as well as the hapless 

 insect's interior. I have the specimen now pinned through the thorax, the only 

 available point-d'appui, with the label, " Found in this state alive and active." Poor 

 Helops ! dull as his feelings might be, he must have been conscious of a void within 

 which nothing could supply. — George Guyon ; Richmond, Surrey, April 18, 1855. 



Egg and Young Larva of Crymodes Tetnpli. — For a long time I have believed 

 that the eggs of this highly interesting insect were not deposited until the spring, a 

 supposition which has been confirmed, as far as individual observation goes. On the 

 breaking up of the frost I succeeded in finding a fine, peifect female: on the 16th of 

 March she began to deposit her eggs, and continued laying until near the 30th, when 

 she died. The eggs appeared of small size, in proportion to the moth, and were so 

 firmly glued to the box that I could not detach them, otherwise I would have sent 

 some to be engraved for the 'Zoologist,' as I think they would have possessed much 

 interest for its readers. The following particulars of the egg may be noticed: — From 

 the equator to the crown rose about thirty very prominent ribs, meeting in a point ; in 

 fact, arranged precisely as the meridians on a globe: the colour, when the egg was 

 first deposited was a light orange, but in about a fortnight the equatorial region 

 assumed a most beautiful purple hue, which gradually faded upwards towards the 

 crown : near the time of hatching both the orange and purple colours vanished 

 entirely, giving place to a uniform chocolate-brown. They began to hatch about the 

 24th of April, and more than three hundred larvae have appeared : I gave them every 

 kind of food I could think of, but without success : one or two ate slightly of ragwort 

 and yarrow, but not sufficient to keep them alive. The head of the larva is remarkably 

 large, in proportion to the size of the body, and quite black : the body is green and 

 perfectly smooth. — Job Johnson; Denby Parsonage, near Huddersfield, May 19, 1855. 



Proceedings of Societies. 



Society of British Entomologists. 



April 18, 1855. — Mr. Harding, President, in the chair. 



Multitudes of dead Flies on a panicle of Grass. 

 Mr. Miller exhibited the panicle of a common grass, to the blossoms of which were 

 attached numbers of a species of Dipterous insect ; and remarked that while at Darenth 

 XIII. 2 E 



