2504 Microscopical Society. 



Mr. Douglas exhibited specimens of Coccyx Strobilana, Z., and read the follow- 

 ing note of their habits : " Early in May, last year, Messrs. Shepherd and Waring 

 took this species for the first time in this country, in a plantation of fir-trees, about a 

 mile and a half beyond Croydon. I made several expeditions to the place in hope 

 of getting it, but without success, until, on the 19th of May last, I saw it flying in 

 plenty round the tops of the spruce firs, in the hot sunshine, between the hours of 10 

 and 1, and not afterwards. As the trees are 20 feet high, the handle of my net should 

 have been of proportionate length : as it was I could only capture one occasionally, 

 as it by chance descended within reach. Later in the day I beat the trees all round, 

 but without obtaining one : hence I conclude that it remains and breeds on the top 

 branches. Mr. H. Doubleday considers, and I think rightly, that this species is the 

 true Tinea Strobilella of Linneus. Tortrix Strobilana of Haworth is the same as 

 Pseudotomia fraternana of Stephens, and is found on oaks. It resembles the present 

 species, but is smaller, and has not so many metallic markings. It is the Coccyx 

 splendidulana of Guenee." 



Mr. Douglas also exhibited a specimen of the true Retinia turionana, L., a spe- 

 cies very rare in this country. He had beaten it from a Scotch fir at Wickham, on 

 the 27th of May. At the same time and place he took one of Micropteryx Allionella, 

 F. (T. ammanella, H.), a species that appeared to be more rare in the south than the 

 north of England. 



Mr. Shepherd exhibited a remarkable variety of Arctia villica and specimens of 

 Coccyx Strobilana, of which he had reared one from cones of spruce fir, one of which 

 he showed. The larva had fed in the centre, changed to a pupa about two inches 

 from the apex, and, when ready to emerge in the perfect state, had worked its way to 

 the exterior along the tube it had previously formed. 



Mr. Westwood read descriptions of two new exotic Coleoptera. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Desvignes, on Macrus and Coleocentrus, two 

 of Gravenhorst's subgenera of Ichneumons, and exhibited specimens taken by Mr. 

 Desvignes at Vienna. 



Mr. Waterhouse read descriptions of two new beetles from the West Indies, which 

 he proposed to call Cryptorhynchus Batatae and Tricorynus Zeae. 



Mr. Bond said that a dealer was selling pupae of Deilephila Galii as British, but 

 there was good reason to believe they had been imported from the Continent, and he 

 wished to put collectors on their guard. — J. W. D. 



Proceedings of the Microscopical Society of London. 



April 25. — George Busk, Esq., President, in the chair. 



The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and confirmed. 



Certificates in favour of Joseph Bainbridge and Samuel Gurney, Esqrs., were 

 read, and ordered to be suspended in the meeting-room. 



T. Hudson, Esq., Gideon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., R. Hodgson, Esq., and J. Ma- 

 thieson, Esq., were balloted for, and duly elected Fellows of the Society. 



A paper by George Shadbolt, Esq., being ' A Description of a new form of Hair, 

 from a species of Tarantula,' was read. After some preliminary remarks on the in- 

 teresting nature of the study of the various forms and structure of the hairs of animals, 



