Entomological Society, 3863 



insect. These extraneous bodies are affixed to the maxillae in very regular order, but 

 he regarded their position as purely accidental ; and the hairs observed by Mr. Ho- 

 gan adhering to the pollen-masses were no part of the plant, but doubtless derived 

 from the palpi or pectus of the butterfly. The occurrence of pollen-masses on various 

 parts of insects had been repeatedly noticed by botanists as well as entomologists; they 

 are very common on the heads of wild bees, especially in foreign countries, in such 

 cases being not only derived from Orchids, but also from Asclepiads, — a natural order 

 of plants which does not occur wild in this country, and which, although widely differ- 

 ing from the Orchids in other structural peculiarities, possesses similarly constructed 

 pollen-masses. To such an extent has this phenomenon prevailed in some instances, 

 that botanists have conjectured that Nature availed herself of the services of the bees 

 to carry out the fecundating process, for many Orchids, without their assistance in con- 

 veying the pollen-granules from one flower to another, failed to mature their seeds. 

 The pollen-masses are very carefully and accurately described by the late Sir J. E. 

 Smith, Dr. Lindley, and other botanists. 



The Secretary read the following notes, communicated by Professor Zeller, Hono- 

 rary Member of the Society. 



" Impaled Insects. — I only remember two examples of impaled insects, but both of 

 them afford good evidence of the cause of their position. In one of these cases the in- 

 sect was a suicide : a male of Triphaena comes, 7V., in the finest condition, had a point 

 of the rush, Juncus acutus, in its breast, and was dead when I found it. I still keep 

 the thorax in my collection ; it is quite uninjured, which would not be the case if a 

 bird had captured and impaled the moth. Besides, the locality, in the environs of 

 Catania, is such as no Lanius would inhabit, being a small meadow, wet in winter, 

 surrounded by a large lava-desert, without tree or shrub. Juncus acutus is the haunt 

 of an (Edipoda which I think new, {(Ed. Junci, mihi, in litt.); and I sometimes ob- 

 served this insect, after a short flight, fall clown and impale its wings on the pin-like 

 points of the rush, and get them loose only after many efforts. That insects would be 

 easily impaled here I was sure from my own experience, as when stooping quickly 

 for any capture, I often found myself on these unhappy points almost in a Turkish 

 fashion. The moth here spoken of is mentioned in the 'Isis,' 1847, p. 442. 



" The other instance is of an earlier date, and happened to a Triphaena fimbria, 

 TV., $ . This insect was impaled on a sloe-thorn, and was still living when I found 

 it. It had its back downwards, the wings on its right side half bitten off, and its tho- 

 rax much injured. In the alder-brake where this happened, there were some Lanii 

 (shrikes), the species of which I do not now remember." 



" Larva of Polyommatus Artaxerxes. — From the affinity of this species with Poly- 

 ommatus Agestis, I infer the possibility of its larva feeding on a species of Geranium 

 or Erodium ; for on Erodium cicutarium I have detected the larva of Agestis. If it 

 be deemed probable that any species of these plants affords food to the larva of Arta- 

 xerxes, a quantity of them should be gathered at the proper season in the locality 

 inhabited by the butterfly, by cautiously cutting them off above the roots, and they 

 should then be torn and shaken over white paper or a table-cloth. But an undoubt- 

 edly better method of obtaining the larvae is the following. Most butterflies are very 

 easily observed laying their eggs, and the Polyommati are particularly favourable for 

 such investigations. Therefore, when the females of Artaxerxes have been out some 



