Zoological Society. 38 8 5 



a straight bristle longer than the whole body of the pupa. The perfect insect was one 

 of those with vitreous spots, closely allied to Gouiloba Antoninus. — Alfred R. Wal- 

 lace ; March, 1853. 



Note on Vernacular Names. — Having lately had the good fortune to meet with the 

 1st and 2nd volumes of the ' Entomological Magazine,' to complete my set, I ob- 

 serve in vol. i. p. 317, the following: — " Rather Extraordinary. — On Sunday, as Mr. 

 Wm. Ferris, of Pennywell Lane was in his garden, about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, 

 millions of insects of the caterpillar species, forming quite a cloud which darkened the 

 air, passed over him from West to East. — Bristol Mercury. — ! !! Ed." Had the wor- 

 thy Editor of that volume only known that the common May-beetle or chaffer (Melo- 

 lontha vulgaris) is called by the name of " ihe caterpillar'' in this part of the kingdom, 

 it would have eased him of a considerable portion of his doubts as to the correctness 

 of the statement ; although I believe it is very unusual for such extensive flights to 

 take place in the middle of the day, the close of the day being much more congenial 

 to their habits. While upon the subject of this insect, I may as well remark that last 

 summer, on several successive evenings (very sultry ones), from about sunset to the 

 end of the twilight, I watched them coming from a pasture field on the opposite side 

 of the road from a row of houses, (the road running nearly North and South). They 

 undeviatingly flew from about North-east by East to South-west by West ; not an in- 

 dividual varied from the assigned course. They averaged about one every second that 

 passed over the house I stood in front of: how far they extended right and left I can- 

 not say; I often observed from four to six on the wing at the same time. The flight 

 was direct, without any wavering one way or the other ; a few that seemed not to have 

 taken a sufficient angle of elevation to enable them to clear the roof, struck against 

 the upper part of the house, but soon recovering themselves, they followed the same 

 course as their companions had taken. But to return to the previous subject : — so 

 completely has the Melolontha possessed itself of the name " caterpillar,'' to the ex- 

 clusion of its rightful owners, the larvae of the Lepidoptera, that when I have been 

 speaking to persons not acquainted with insect metamorphoses about the changes they 

 undergo, if I happened to mention a caterpillar, I have been obliged to explain that 

 it was not the insect or beetle that children fasten with a thread to make it spin, but 

 the grub that devours cabbages or other plants that was meant. The name by which 

 the Lepidoptera are commonly known to the Welch is " Pillipalla," an evident cor- 

 ruption of the Latin Papilio. — James Bladon ; Pont-y-Pool, February 14, 1853. 



Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



Tuesday, March 8, 1853. — Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the chair. 



The Secretary read a letter which had been addressed to Dr. Gray by Mr. Oswell, 

 respecting the discovery of a rhinoceros by himself and Capt. Vardon, in the country 

 about the river Limpopo, which they at the time considered to be a new species, as it 

 probably is. The horns of this animal, brought home by Col. Steele, and about to be 

 presented by him to the British Museum, were exhibited to the meeting. Their pe- 

 culiarity consists in the forward direction of the lower horn, the end of which was evi- 

 dently worn away by contact with the ground in feeding. In a note attached to Mr. 



