3824 Entomological Society. 



These insects were both found in the darkest parts of the caves, and retreated quickly 

 from the light iuto clefts of the rock. 



" Leptoderus angustatus. Ked-brown ; head and thorax darker, shining, the lat- 

 ter swelled out in front, and hindwardly much contracted; elytra oval, viewed with 

 a lens they are scarred and marked with fine points : palpi, antennae and feet some- 

 what lighter brown, beset with strong, yellowish hairs. The female has in the tarsi 

 of the fore-feet only four joints, but five in all the others ; whereas the male has five 

 joints in the fore-feet also, of which the first, second, and third, are enlarged from the 

 base outwards, especially the first, which exceeds the next two both in length and 

 width. 



" Leptoderus sericeus. Brown ; head and thorax slightly darker, face with fine 

 yellow hairs ; thorax nearly even with the head, cylindric, long, broad, and widened a 

 little in front : palpi and antenna? much lighter, the latter, particularly in the male, 

 very long-jointed, and from the sixth joint with yellow hairs ; the tarsi in the male 

 are five-jointed as in the preceding species, but the joints are of eqal thickness. The 

 body is 2 lines long, and scarcely 1 line broad, and is of the form of L. angustatus. 

 The elytra are marked with fine, round depressions, and covered with shining yellow 

 hairs. Both sexes are much alike in colour, but in the female the joints of the an- 

 tenna? are rather shorter, and the joints of the fore-tarsi are only four." 



Mr. Spence remarked, that though these beetles lived in the darkest caves, and 

 were described to be eyeless (augenlos) yet their running away from light seemed to 

 show they were not destitute of an optic nerve. 



Read, the following extracts of a letter addressed to the Secretary by the Rev. 

 Joseph Greene of Halton Rectory, near Wendover, dated December 8, 1852. 



" In reference to the question of * whether the earth in caterpillar-boxes should be 

 moist or dry ?' there are two points in favour of the latter, which I omitted to mention 

 last night. Should the earth be in any degree of a clayey consistency, the moistening 

 tends to make it so close, as to render it nearly impossible for the weaker larva? to pene- 

 trate it, as I have found to be the case more than once. Again, if the earth be moist- 

 ened, it often happens, that after drying, it becomes so hard as to prevent the pupa 

 from bursting, and permitting the escape of the insect. I have repeatedly found this 

 to be the case in digging for pupae. And once I found even so large and strong an 

 insect as Smerinthus Tilia?, which from this cause had been unable to escape. It was 

 perfectly formed ; but was so firmly imbedded that it could not emerge, and miserably 

 perished ! This I imagine to be one of the causes of the periodic uncertainty in the 

 appearance of many insects. I feel no doubt, that, when hard frosts succeed pro- 

 tracted rains, a multitude of subterranean pupae are thus destroyed. 



" You observed that Ireland had been much neglected by entomologists. I am 

 quite of your opinion. I am sure there are many valuable insects to be found there. 

 In proof of which, I may mention that Mr. Ball himself took five specimens of 

 Deilephila Euphorbia?, somewhere on the southern coast. I do not at this moment re- 

 member the exact locality, but could easily find out. I saw two of the specimens ; 

 the others perished though neglect. I have in my own collection, two Euphorbia? and 

 one Galii, taken in Ireland ; and, as I mentioned to you, I am certain I saw Catocala 

 Fraxini." 



