EnL(j}uolo<jical Suciely. 



5995 



female Eudicella Smithii settle on a branch of a shrub before my door; not half an 

 hour after I had removed it a male had settled on the very same spot. An enormous 

 female Sternotornis niveisparsa (attracted by the candle) will strike the window so as 

 nearly to break the pane, when some time after the smaller-sized male will arrive at 

 the same window. In the same way, and under the same circumstance':, I have ob- 

 tained two rare species of smaller Scarites, always in pairs; and so it appears that 

 these beetles are able to trace the flight of the opposite sex through the air, a good 

 while after it has passed. Paussi appear in the month of November, and last during 

 the whole season until April: their caustic juice is squirted out of the sides of the 

 abdomen ; part of it evaporates immediately as a blue smoke, distinctly visil)le by sun- 

 light; the remainder covers both sides of the elytra, and remains as a whitish or pale 

 yellow unctuous matter. I have repeatedly found P. Latreillii in the act of copulation 

 in ants' nests. The specimens are nearly always found in the part of the nest where 

 the eggs and pupae are deposited ; and although I have never yet observed a Paussus 

 in the act of feeding, yet, from the great and mysterious attachment which the ants 

 show them, I am inclined to believe that they feed upon the spoil which the ants con- 

 vey into the nests, rather than upon their eggs or pupae : T believe, likewise, that the 

 eggs of the Paussi are there deposited and bred, and it is not impossible that their 

 larvae are fed by the ants as their own offspring. The sunny sides of the margins of 

 forests are the places where Paussi are generally met with ; a piece of old dry wood is 

 seldom found without an ants' nest beneath it (stones get too hot in the sun) : when 

 the weather is very dry they remain below ground, but when moist they ascend and 

 carry their eggs and pupce to the surface under the wood : when this shelter is care- 

 fully lifted up on one side, I have often observed a Paussus (P. Dohrnii, cucullatus or 

 Latreillii), surrounded and covered with ants, apparently sucking nourishment out of 

 him, and fondling him all the time with their antennae, as they do the Aphides and 

 larvae of Centroti, and other lamellicorn Coleoptera found with ants. 



" When the alarm is given in a nest, and all is hurry and bustle to save eggs and 

 pupaj, two or three ants will seize the sluggish Paussus by the antennae, and he is 

 quickly hurried below with the rest. I can discern no difference in the odour emitted 

 by P. cucullatus and P. Latreillii, when exploding, and that which is perceived on 

 opening an ants' nest on a hot day." 



Captain Cox exhibited some diagrams illustrating the economy of Scolytus 

 destructor, and read the following communication, pursuant to notice given at the 

 last Meeting: — 



On the Ravages of Scolytus destructor. 



" Ten years have nearly elapsed since the Royal Botanic Society of London 

 awarded me their medal, and had my Paper (read before the Society in 1848) published 

 for distribution among the Fellows and Members. Mr. R. Marnock (the Curator) 

 then stated ' that the results of the operations recommended ill that Paper had been 

 most satisfactory, and had proved highly beneficial to the trees.' As I feel certain 

 that I shall nearly stand alone in the views I have taken of the habits of the Scolytus 

 destructor, it is most essential that I should avail myself of the powerful testimony of 

 the award made by the Royal Botanic Sucicty of London, and of the report of the 



