Entomological Society. 4481 



hitherto been unique in the cabinet of Mr. Douglas ; Noctua tencbrosa, also from 

 Perthshire ; and a specimen of Acosmetia caliginosa from the New Forest. 



Mr. Edward Sheppard exhibited a box of Coleopterous insects, captured in the 

 New Forest at the end of July and beginning of August, containing Phloiotrya rufi- 

 pes, Platypus cylindricus, Elater sanguineus, Triplax amea, Mycetocharus scapularis, 

 Triphyllus bifasciatus, Salpingus ruficollis, and many others. 



Mr. Hudson exhibited a hermaphrodite Polyommatus Alexis, remarkable for having 

 the right wings £ and the left $ , contrary to what usually occurs in such cases. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited specimens of Myrmica cespitum, $ , 9 ar, d workers, only 

 the $ and workers being hitherto known ; Myrmica flavidula; a new species; and 

 both the sexes of the true Bombus soroensis, taken from the nest. All these specimens 

 were captured by him at Shoebury, near Southend. 



Mr. S. Stevens, on the part of Mr. Oxley, exhibited a collection of insects, chiefly 

 Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, made by him in South Australia: it contained many in- 

 teresting species, and among the Lepidoptera were some fine examples of the families 

 Tortricina and Tineina, and some cases of a large species of Psyche, composed appa- 

 rently of pieces of a rush about an inch long, placed longitudinally and firmly ce- 

 mented together. 



Mr. Curtis exhibited specimens of the curious Acentropus Garnonsii from Glan- 

 ville's Wootton, including the apterous female; also a large mass of white and very 

 elongated eggs, supposed by Mr. Curtis to have been laid by the specimen exhibited, 

 as they were found near her. Mr. Curtis presented two males for the Society's 

 cabinet. 



Damage to White Mustard-Crops by Insects. 



Mr. Westwood read the following letter relative to a species of beetle (P/uzdon 

 Betulce) which had done great mischief to the mustard-crops near Ely : — 



" Ely, August 29, 1854. 



" Sir, 



" The enclosed beetles are now ravaging the white mustard-crops in the Fens 

 near Ely. They are so numerous that hundreds of thousands might be collected in a 

 ftw minutes by shaking the stems over a newspaper. Having devoured the leaves, 

 they then bark the stems and the seed-vessels (provincially called "coshes"). The 

 effect of walking through the field where they are is very singular: as soon as the stem 

 is jarred down they fall, and the noise so produced is like the rattling of shot or hail 

 all around you. The crops appear to have approached maturity before they commenced 

 their attack, otherwise they must have been wholly destroyed. As it is, the stems and 

 seed-pods are stripped, and the seed becomes lean and of inferior quality. I have not 

 heard the folks say they remember such a visitation before, although I apprehend the 

 insect is a very common one. 



" Mixed with the larger insects was the common turnip beetle, in the proportion of 

 about 1 in 100. I observed that the brown mustard (Sinapis nigra), scattered as a 

 weed throughout the crop, was also eaten in the same manner; but another cruciferous 

 plant, the Erysimum cheiranthoides (which by the way is a very common garden and 

 corn weed about Ely), was untouched. Will you kindly state what the insect is, and 

 if it has been known to do the like before ? 



" Yours, &C, 



" W. Marshall." 



