5944 



Entomological Society. 



Exhibitions. 



Mr. Janson exhibited a root of Monizia edulis, Lowe, from Dezertas Island, near 

 Madeira, where it is commonly known as the " wild carrot. ' Although brought to 

 this country in May, 1857, since which time it had been kept in a dry room, it still 

 exhibited traces of vitality, and was infested with a species of Coccus. 



Mr. Waterhouse exhibited to the Meeting his extensive series of the British spe- 

 cies of Atomaria. 



Mr. Douglas exhibited a portion of one of the staves of a flour-barrel, perforated 

 by the larva of a Rhizopertha, apparently an undescribed species. All the softer por- 

 tion of the wood (American oak) was completely eaten away, and considerable leak- 

 age and loss of the flour had taken place in consequence. 



Mr. Stevens exhibited some Lej)idoptera, lately received from Mr. Bates, taken in 

 the neighbourhood of Ega and on the river Janari, Upper Amazons. The collection 

 contained Papilio Columbus, P. Bolivar, P. Patros and P. Pausanias, some splendid 

 CatagrammaB and Erycinidae, and a number of fine Geometridae. The most interest- 

 ing portion of the collection, however, was a series of minute Lepidoptera, which had 

 arrived in the most perfect state of preservation, and included many most beautiful 

 and remarkable species, especially amongst the Pyralidae and (Ecophoridae. The col- 

 lection also contained several species of Pterophoridae closely resembling the Euro- 

 pean representatives of that family. 



Captain Cox announced his intention to call the especial attention of the Society, 

 at the next Meeting, to the fearful ravages committed by the Scolyti on the elm trees 

 in the vicinity of the metropolis. 



Mr. Stainton read a " Synopsis of the Genus Elachista." — E. S. 



The following paper, by Mr. Janson, was read at the Meeting of July, 1857: — 

 Occurrence of Scolytus rugulosus near London. 



" S. rugulosus {Koch), Ratzeb. die Forst. Insecten, i. 187 (1837), has been reared 

 in considerable numbers from the dead branches of a pear tree, gathered by Mr. 

 Groves in his garden at Lewisham, and not hitherto recorded as British. The ques- 

 tion has been more than once discussed in this room whether the Scolyti attack 

 healthy and vigorous trees, or whether they select as a nidus such trees only as are 

 already diseased,— whether, in fact, they are the primary or merely an accessory cause 

 of the devastation which has been attributed solely to them. Each view has found 

 warm and able advocates, but I believe the question still remains open, nor can I 

 aspire to close it, but I think, as far as the species now under consideration is con- 

 cerned, we may fairly conclude that, under ordinary circumstances, its pabulum con- 

 sists of dead wood, since Mr. Groves informs me that it is on the upper dead branches 

 alone that the insect is to be found, no trace of it being discernible on any other part 

 of the tree; and, in fact, the branches which he has placed in my hands, and from 

 which the specimens now exhibited were reared, present every appearance of having 

 been destitute of vitality for several years. The present species, however, departs con- 

 siderably in habit from that of its congeners which I have had an opportunity of 



