Northern Entomological Society 



6079 



The Secretary then exhibited two beautiful varieties of Hadena Atriplicis, recently 

 presented to him by Mr. Doubleday, and a Conlinental specimen of Abraxas panlaria, 

 and read Mr. Doubleday's remarks upon this species. 



Mr. Gregson exhibited a box of Coleoptera, captured during the winter, princi- 

 pally in the "North and South Keserves" at Birkenhead, observing that those who 

 desire to work up the Geodephag-a and Brachel}tra should lose no time, as the 

 " Reserves " (formerly the bed of Wallasey Pool) are no longer reserved, but intended 

 to be converted into docks forthwith. He also exhibited Rhyzophagus bipustulatus 

 alive, taken at Garston, whilst waiting for a train : this little beetle had entirely 

 destroyed some of the fir trees in the plantations around. 



The Secretary then read the following, at the request of Mr. Douglas : — 



Metamorphotic Systems of Classifying Insects. 



" T am not going to write an essay on this subject, but as the President, at the 

 Meeting on the 26th of December last, as reported in the 'Zoologist' for February 

 (Zool. 5951), has proposed a system of classification founded on metamorphosis, I just 

 venture to say a word thereon. The principle of adopting the differences of meta- 

 morphosis in insects as a basis for dividing them into orders is not new, having been 

 employed by Swammerdam, Lamarck, Oken and others, and the particular method 

 now brought forward differs in no material respect from that proposed by Newman, 

 in a paper read before the Linnean Society in 1834, published in the third volume of 

 the 'Entomological Magazine,' subsequently modified by the author in his ' History 

 of Insects,' p. 76, in the 'Zoologist' for 1853 (Zool. App. p. clxxxv.), and in the 

 * Insect Hunters,' pp. 10 — 13. The only difference that I can see is that Mr. Cooke 

 mixes the Amorpha and Necromorpha, and gives the name Trichoptera to that por- 

 tion of the old Neuroptera which Newman has separated under the name of Stegoptera. 

 I do not propose to discuss the truth of the system propounded, but supposing the 

 theory adopted by Mr. Cooke to be right in principle, then it is a manifest retrogres- 

 sion from that proposed on the same principle by Newman, and I think it is only 

 right that author should have the credit of whatever merit may be due to the original 

 propounder of the system." 



The President disclaimed all desire to take to himself any credit due to others ; he 

 had perhaps attributed to Mr. Dallas that which was due to Mr. Newman, but he was 

 the last man to sully the motto of the Northern Entomological Society, " Honour to 

 whom honour is due." He then read the following paper in reply to Mr. Douglas : — 



" I beg to be allowed a word in reply to the remarks which have just been read. 



" Of Mr. Newman's treatise, published in the ' Entomological Magazine,' I have 

 seen no more than the short abstract given in Westwood's ' Modern Classification.' 

 The article "Proposed Division of Neuroptera into two Classes" (Appendix to 

 the 'Zoologist' for 1853), I read at the lime it was published; but, not paying much 

 attention to the subject then, I did not look at it again until my attention was called 

 to it last month : I must own that 1 had completely forgotten it. 



"The 'Insect Hunters' I did not see until after my paper was read at our last 

 Meeting, and knew no more about it than what I was informed by the wrapper of the 

 'Zoologist' for December. 



