Entomological Society. 4451 



sign of fructification, without which Professor Harvey said that it would be impossible 

 to identify the species. In autumn I tried the experiment of placing a dead larva of 

 Pygaera Bwcephala and one or two other species in the same pot where the Sphaeriae 

 were growing, in order to see whether any of the seed might be communicated to 

 these larvae from the moss (as in the first instance I met with evidently was the case), 

 but without the desired effect. 



" As early spring opened the Spha3riaB again threw out fresh shoots, some of the 

 latter forming branches from the old ones whose extremities had withered away : this 

 will be seen by an examination of the specimen, and it will also be remarked that there 

 is a great diversity in the relative size of the shoots, one or two of them being so fine 

 and delicate as hardly to be perceptible at first sight. At this stage of their growth, 

 however, the space in which they were confined being manifestly too small, and seem- 

 ing to cramp their existence, I could not resist the temptation (though from the great 

 delicacy of the plants I knew it would be attended with risk) of transferring the whole 

 into a larger vessel, where they might enjoy more space, more light and more air ; 

 but this experiment proved fatal, from what special cause I know not, and the entire 

 nursery died away by slow degrees. 



" I should previously have stated that the other example of Sphaeria now exhibited, 

 that of the chrysalis, was found at the foot of on old hawthorn tree at Roebuck, on the 

 27th of January of this year, — that the large shoot was then about an inch long, which 

 length was soon trebled, — and that it came to its end in the same way and along with 

 its brethren. 



" In putting together these notes I have merely detailed the facts that fell under 

 my own observation, and seem to come within the sphere of entomologists ; the inves- 

 tigation of the plants and of their origin I leave to the botanist : yet, in conclusion, I 

 may mention that as far as I can learn there has not hitherto been recorded any in- 

 stance in Ireland similar to the one just described : the Rev. Joseph Greene indeed 

 informs me that he saw a specimen at Powerscourt, but, as he did not preserve it, no 

 further light can from this circumstance be brought to bear on the subject." 



This kind of parasitism of vegetable upon animal bodies being rare, especially in 

 Europe, it is to be hoped that Mr. Hogan may succeed in finding other specimens and 

 rearing them to maturity. 



Species of Trochilium and Cynips reared from American Oak-galls. 



Mr. Westwood stated that from some galls of Quercus palustris received from 

 North America, and deposited in the Museum in the Botanic Gardens at Kew, several 

 specimens of a species of Trochilium had emerged, two of which he now exhibited. 

 The larvae had doubtless fed in the galls, although such a proceeding was quite ab- 

 normal to the genus, their excrement being visible near the apertures where the pupa- 

 cases were left projecting. He could not find that the species had been noticed by 

 Dr. Harris, in his * Monograph on the American Sphingidae,' and he had therefore 

 described the insect in the ' Gardener's Chronicle,' under the name of T. Gallivorum. 

 Among the galls he also found specimens of the Cynips causing the formation, which 

 he had described under the name of C. palliceps. The following are the descriptions 

 referred to : — 



