5310 Entomological Society. 



the circumstance alluded to by Mr. Westwood, in his * Memoirs on Fossil Insects,' 

 recently published by the Geological Society, of great masses of insects' remains being 

 occasionally found in close juxtaposition, whilst in the immediately adjoining layers 

 there were no such deposits. Another fact bearing on the same subject had been 

 stated with regard to vast quantities of dead ants which had occurred along the shores 

 of the rivers of South America, extending for many miles : these would naturally be 

 covered with a layer of sand or other deposit, and it would be evident that the latter 

 and all future layers would be destitute of insect remains until a fresh swarm of ants 

 had been overtaken by the water, and washed up as before. 



Mr. Westwood said it was interesting to observe that facts such as those noticed 

 by Mr. Dutton, which at first sight seemed trivial, might possess considerable im- 

 portance, and even occasionally afford a satisfactory solution to a great scientific 

 question. 



Mr. Frederick Smith read the following description of a most extraordinary 

 aculeate Hymenopterous insect recently received from Australia: — 



" Lamprocolletes btpectinatus. 



" Black ; the head punctured and shining ; the face and cheeks clothed with hoary 

 pubescence, distinctly plumose under a high power of the microscope ; the mandibles 

 ferruginous at their apex ; the antennae bipectinate, the pectinations irregularly 

 toothed. Thorax shining and punctured, thinly clothed with hoary pubescence; 

 wings hyaline and iridescent, the uervures rufo -testaceous; the claw-joint ferruginous; 

 the calcariae pale testaceous. Abdomen sub-ovate, shining and finely punctured; 

 the margins of the segments constricted; clothed above with a thin short hoary 

 pubescence. 



" Male. Length 4\ lines. 



" Habitat: Australia. Taken by W. Stutchbury, between Sydney and Moreton. 



44 In the collection of the British Museum." 



Preparation of the Larvce of Lepidoptera. 

 Mr. Stainton read the following communication from Dr. Collingwood: — 



44 The preparation of the larvae of Lepidopterous insects has long been a deside- 

 ratum : while the imago requires but little management, being, with the exception of 

 those that 4 run greasy,' little prone to decay, the caterpillar form, on the other hand, 

 being soft and juicy in the extreme, cannot possibly be preserved in our cabinets 

 without undergoing some process, which, however effectually it may preserve it, as 

 certainly destroys the symmetry of form and delicacy of colour of these perishable, 

 though often beautiful subjects of entomological study. 



44 In my frequent visits to the Imperial Cabinet of Zoology at Vienna, I could not 

 fail to be struck with the extremely beautiful preparations illustrative of the transfor- 

 mations of insects, exhibited in the upper story of that establishment. In glass cases 

 suspended against the walls is a most instructive series of insects in every stage of 

 their remarkable career, and preserved in a perfection of beauty I have nowhere seen 

 paralleled. This series appeared to be very attractive, and was generally thronged 

 with humble admirers, who probably saw, for the first time, and to their great 

 astonishment, the various changes which insects undergo. But among the forms 



