Entomological Society, <$cc. 5157 



Mr. Adam White communicated descriptions of some apparently undescribed spe- 

 cies of Homoptera, from Borneo and Celebes, with drawings of the insects. 



Mr. Westwood read some notes on the wing-veins of insects, in which he opposed 

 the views maintained by Mr. Newman on this subject in his paper read before the 

 Society at the June meeting last year. 



Some discussion took place on the subject, in which Captain Cox, Messrs. Water- 

 house, Baly and others took part. 



Field Excursion. 



The President expressed his intention to invite the members of the Society to a 

 field excursion at Reigate, during the present month. — E. S. 



Origin of the name Horse-chestnut. — T beg very heartily to thank the Rev. J. Farr 

 for the extremely interesting fact with which he has made me acquainted, of the sin- 

 gular resemblance to a horse's hoof in the young wood of the horse-chestnut, — a fact 

 quite new to me, and I doubt not to many other readers of the ' Zoologist,' but which 

 is clearly shown in the admirable sketch annexed. At the same time I trust that gen- 

 tleman will not set me down as obstinate, and unwilling to be convinced, if I state 

 that I still adhere to my former opinion of the origin of the name horse-chestnut, and 

 that I regard the circumstance he describes as a somewhat remarkable coincidence 

 indeed, but as in no degree influencing the specific name of the tree, which, without 

 such adventitious circumstance, I contend would still be entitled to the prefix of 

 * horse,' in accordance with general custom, to mark its preeminence in size amongst 

 its congeners. Moreover, had the resemblance to a horse's hoof in the joint of the 

 young wood given a specific name to the tree, would it not rather have been designated 

 by our forefathers the 'horse-hoof chestnut, instead of the horse-chestnut? And 

 again, if this be the true solution of the question regarding the origin of the name, 

 how shall we account for the terms horse-leech, Aone-radish, Aorse-mackerel, horse- 

 mushroom, &c, &c. ? all of which, though varying so much from one another in 

 nature, exceed their respective congeners in size, and partake of the same specific 

 name, which I humbly submit should bear such an interpretatation as is applicable to 

 all. For my own part, I still conceive that this prefix, like others mentioned in my 

 paper (Zool. 5057), denotes size and coarseness, and on this account was given to the 

 coarser species of chestnut ; while the curious pattern of a horse's hoof contained in 

 its wood, and the food provided for horses in Turkey by its fruit (as mentioned by 

 Mr. Hussey, and an equally undoubted fact), are coincidences, but nothing more. I 

 may add, in support of my argument, that, in this neighbourhood at least (I know not 

 if the habit exists elsewhere), our villagers apply the term ' horse ' to many things to 

 which it does not legitimately belong, if we are guided by dictionaries, using it as an 

 adjective, and intending it to signify bulk or coarseness. — Alfred Charles Smith; 

 Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, May 28, 1856. 



