8348 



Entomological Society. 



ogist' for October last (Zool. 8216), on the genus Acentropus. Referring to the date 

 of his own memoir in the ' Transactions of the Entomological Society,' the Professor 

 was surprised to find that Mr. Newman had assumed a share in the merit (whatever 

 it might he) of the reference of the genus to the order Lepidoptera, which was due to 

 himself and Dr. Hagen. His grounds for such reference were — 1. The nature of the 

 clothing of the wings. 2. The possession of tippets. 3. The possession of a bristle and 

 socket connecting the wings. 4. (As proved by Mr. Edwin Brown's discovery of the 

 preparatory states), the structure of the pupa. Mr. Newman's arguments were — 1. 

 That the scales in Acentropus are unlike those of any other Lepidopterous insect, and 

 resemble those on the elytra of some beetles. 2. That tippets do not exist in the Psy- 

 chidae. 3. That the wings in Hymenoptera are fixed together by a series of booklets. 

 4. That it is not stated how the pupa of Acentropus differs from that of Phryganea. 

 To these arguments the Professor replied— 1. That the clothing of the wings of Acen- 

 tropus consists of scales (and not of hairs as in Trichoptera). They vary in their form, 

 and Lyonnet has shown how infinitely the scales in a single species (Cossus) vary, 

 whilst no one would think of assigning Acentropus to the order Coleoptera. 2. That 

 (even if true), the absence of tippets in Psyche is not proof that another insect which 

 does possess those appendages does not belong to the order in which tippets are exclu- 

 sively characteristic. 3. The spring and socket of Acentropus are identical with those 

 of nocturnal Lepidoptera, and totally unlike the hooklets of the Hymenoptera, with 

 which order no one would think of uniting Acentropus. 4. The pupa of Acentropus 

 agrees with those of nocturnal Lepidoptera, except in a modification of the spiracles, 

 as stated by Professor Westwood in a paper read before the British Association at 

 Oxford in 1860, of which a slight report is published in the volume of Reports' of 

 that Meeting. It entirely differs from that of Phryganea both in general characters, 

 and especially in wanting the peculiar mandibles of the pupa by which Phryganea is 

 associated with the subnecromorphotic Neuroptera. 



Professor Westwood exhibited a further series of leaves of plants mined by Lepi- 

 dopterous and Dipterous larva?, which had been arranged for the cabinet by Mr. Stone 

 of Brighthampton, and by him presented to the Oxford Museum. 



Professor Westwood also called attention to the ravages committed on celery plants 

 by the larva of the Dipterous Tephritis Onopordinis. 



The President exhibited the different stages of a species of sawfly which he con- 

 ceived to be Nemalus trimaculatus, St. Farg., and read the following extract from a 

 letter from F. M. Rayner, Esq., of Callowell, Stroud, dated the 7th of June, 1862:— 



" Having seen several letters and papers in the ' Times' and other publications, 

 with reference to the great destruction to the gooseberry and currant bushes by a grub 

 said to be the caterpillar of a Lepidopterous insect (Phalaena wavaria), I directed my 

 attention to the subject. I collected several of the lame in the beginning of May, 

 and discovered at once by the number of the feet (18) that they were not Lepidopterous. 

 1 fed them upon the leaves of their respective trees, and examined them frequently 

 during the day. No particular change occurred until the last casting of the skin, 

 when the larva turned from a bluish green, covered with shining jet-black tubercles, 

 each bearing a seta, to a beautiful yellowish green, the first and the last two segments 

 being of a pale orange-colour, and having no tubercles or setae, but quite smooth, with 

 the exception of the last few posterior segments, which were slightly pubescent. The 

 cocoon was at first green, but afterwards changed to black. In about three weeks the 

 imago made iis appearance in the form of a Hymenopterous insect. I think it belongs 



