8480 



Entomological Society. 



Mr. Waterhouse also exhibited the insect which stands as " Boletobius castaneus" 

 in Messrs. Hardy and Buld's ' Catalogue of the Insects of Northumberland and 

 Durham,' p. 107 ; it was regarded by Messrs. Hardy and Bold as identical with 

 Megacronus castaneus of Stephens, but Mr. Waterhouse stated that, upon examina- 

 tion, he found it a perfectly distinct species. M. castaneus of Stephens' collection was 

 certainly an immature specimen either of Boletobius analis or B. cingulatus ; 

 formerly he thought it was the latter, but upon re-examination he was inclined to 

 regard it as the B. analis. The B. castaneus of Hardy and Bold, Mr. W. thought, 

 would probably prove a species of Dr. Kraatz's genus Bryoporus, but as he was 

 unable to examine the parts of the mouth, the maxillary palpi only being visible, he 

 was left in doubt. The maxillary palpi were short and moderately stout, and the 

 terminal joint but a trifle shorter than the preceding joint, and of an elongated 

 conical form. This form of palpus was very distinct from the elongated slender 

 maxillary palpi seen in the typical species of Boletobius (such as B. atricapillus, &c.) ; 

 it approached more nearly, however, to that seen in species of the section Megacronus, 

 Steph. {— Bolitobius, Sect. 1 of Kraatz), and could scarcely be said to differ from that 

 of Bryoporus rufus. The insect was smaller and narrower than B. rufus ; had 

 shorter and stouter antenna?; and had the elytra impunctate, excepting the punctures 

 in the ordinary discoidal stria, and that of the suture, in each of which there were but 

 about five somewhat indistinct punctures. The head was short and nearly round, as 

 in B. rufus and Mycetoporus splendens, and, indeed, in size, form, and proportions, it 

 greatly resembled the last-mentioned insect, from which it differed chiefly in the greater 

 development of the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi; in the antennae being rather 

 stouter, the basal joints shorter, more especially the second, fourth and fifth joints ; the 

 punctures on the striae of the elytra fewer and less distinct; the abdomen less thickly 

 punctured (the basal segment nearly impunctate) ; and, lastly, in the colouring, which 

 was rufo-testaceous, with the head rufo-piceous, the abdomen pale castaneous, and the 

 antennae black, with the exception of the three basal joints. The above comparisons 

 were made with Mr. Hardy's specimen, which that gentleman had forwarded for 

 inspection. 



Mr. Waterhouse also exhibited two specimens of a British species of Homalota, 

 which had not hitherto been recorded in our lists; he regarded it as the H. oblonga 

 of Erichson and Kraatz; one of his specimens was taken in the neighbourhood of 

 London ; the locality of the other had not been noted. 



Papers read. 



Prof. Westwood read " Descriptions of two new Australian Lucanidae," under the 

 names of Lucanus carbonarius and L. Howittanus. 



The President read " Descriptions of Brazilian Honey-Bees belonging to the 

 genera Melipona and Trigona, which were exhibited, with samples of their Honey 

 and Wax, in the Brazilian Court of the International Exhibition of 1862." 



Neiv Part of ' Transactions' 

 Part 5 of Vol. i. (third series) of the ' Transactions,' being the first Part published 

 in 1863, was on the table— J. W. D. 



