Entomological Society. 2363 



" In the course of the spring or summer a party of officers were detailed, by order 

 of Commodore Bainbridge, to survey the coast of the bay, to a limited extent, north- 

 eastward and outside of the light-house. 



" The officers selected for this duty were the sailing-master of the ship, Wm. T. 

 Malbone, and the Rev. Cheever Felch, the instructor of the midshipmen. 



" To assist in the service several of the most competent and elder midshipmen were 

 designated. As they alternated periodically with other gentlemen of the same grade, 

 I cannot with any degree of precision venture to name them. I hope that some of 

 them are yet living, and, further, that they have advanced in professional distinction. 

 There were also added a sufficient number of seamen and boys. 



" Commodore Bainbridge, Mr. Malbone and Mr. Felch died some years ago. 



" I recollect that on the first occasion when the Lynx returned to the Indepen- 

 dence, of which ship she was the tender, that Mr. Malbone reported as having seen a 

 monstrous sea-animal, not before known to him, of the snake species ; the length 

 doubtful, but estimated at some eighty or more feet ; and added as an incident, that 

 the officers and men employed in a small boat to carry out the soundings had returned 

 in haste, and indeed alarm, to the Lynx, which was at anchor. 



" These statements were corroborated by Mr. Felch, the officers and crew. 



" Subsequently it was seen several times, by some of the party, who, being soon 

 satisfied that it was harmless, approached comparatively near, and no doubt gave me 

 a minute description of its appearance as it presented itself to them ; but if so, the 

 particular details have escaped my memory. 



" These facts are all that I can with distinctness and certainty mention. Wm. 

 Compton Bolton, Captain in the Navy of the United States, Saratoga Springs, July 

 14, 1846 ; to Hon. T. H. Perkins, Boston." — • Boston Daily Advertiser ,' November 

 25, 1848. 



Proceedings of the Entomological Society. 



January 1. — W. Spence, Esq., President, in the chair. 



A beautiful and extensive collection of Indian insects, presented to the Society by 

 Mrs. R. Hamilton, was exhibited. 



Certificates, as members, in favour of Dr. Lee, F.R.S., W. S. Dallas, Esq., W. J. 

 Wild, Esq., H. F. Farr, Esq., and P. H. Vaughan, Esq. ; and as subscribers in fa- 

 vour of W. Bell, Esq., W. P. Saunders, Esq., H. Jobson, Esq., and G. Bedell, Esq., 

 were read. J. Dawson, Esq., of Carron, was elected a subscriber. 



Mr. J. W. Douglas exhibited the cocoon and pupa of Oxypate gelatella, found by 

 Mr. May in Fulham Fields, under the bark of the whitethorn. Mr. May states that 

 the larvae are internal feeders, living chiefly in the decayed branches of whitethorn, 

 and not unfrequently under the bark of living branches, where they form a beautifully 

 woven cocoon. Mr. Stainton remarked that this account differed from that of Lienig 

 in the ' Isis,' and also from Freyer's account in his * Beitrage.' The larva is there 

 stated to be pale greenish gray, with the head, the fore part of the thorax and the legs 

 blackish, becoming, as it grows older, of a light grass-green, with long whitish stripes 

 down the back. It is said to breed on whitethorn, currant, elm, barberry, &c, and to 

 form a covering by drawing the leaves together, living therein in a net-like, silken 

 canal, in which it undergoes its metamorphosis ; the pupa being grass-green. This 



