En torn o log tea I So cic ly . 



853 5 



simple, not crenulated. Compared with A. mcesta, this insect differed in the following 

 points: — the head was smaller; the antennae longer and more slender; the thorax less 

 convex, more contracted in front, and more delicately punctured ; the abdomen not 

 only differed in the strong and rather dense punctuation of the transverse groove of 

 the basal segments, but this strong punctuation existed even on the basal portion of 

 the fifth segment, which in A. moesta has the corresponding part smooth. The legs 

 were slender, as in the species last mentioned ; in A. lanuginosa the legs are stouter, 

 and the posterior tarsi are shorter and stouter. The Aleochara inconspicua of Aube is 

 described as having a remarkably long terminal joint to the antennae in the male sex, 

 and as having the transverse grooves in the abdominal segments strongly punctured, 

 and so far agrees with the insect exhibited, but the latter was larger than the size 

 indicated for A. inconspicua, and the penultimate abdominal segment was not crenu- 

 lated ; hence Mr. Waterhouse was not inclined to identify it with A. inconspicua 

 without a note of doubt. 



The President exhibited specimens of Claviger testaceus found near Purley and 

 Croydon in the nests of Formica flava; they had readily sucked sugar and water sup- 

 plied to them in blotting-paper, and he had hoped to have exhibited them alive, but 

 all had unfortunately died before the hour of meeting. He had not been able to lind 

 the larva of Claviger ; so far as his experience went C. testaceus was confined to the 

 nests of Formica flava, but in the course of last year his son had found it at Folkestone 

 in the nests of the common garden ant. 



Mr. Haward had found it in the nests of both these ants, but more commonly in 

 that of F. flava. 



Mr. Lubbock requested entomologists to supply him with specimens of the larva 

 or imago of Acronycta Psi and A. Tridens, as he was desirous of making experiments 

 in breeding and interbreeding those species. 



The Secretary read an extract from a letter from Mr. Roland Trimen, dated Cape 

 Town, February 18, 1863, in the following words : — 



" Is it known that Deilephila Livornica is a rfay-flyer? In December last I saw 

 several specimens flying about a long hill-ridge in the hot mid-day sunshine, and 

 captured one of them. One specimen was hovering about the blue flowers of a 

 species of Echium." 



The Secretary also read a letter received from Mr. C. A. Wilson (a Corresponding 

 Member of the Society), dated Kensington, near Adelaide, January 27, 1863, in which 

 the writer gave a brief account of the successful passage, over the continent, to the 

 north-west coast and back, of the South Australian exploring party under Stuart. Two 

 unsuccessful attempts had previously been made; and the successful party, consisting 

 of ten persons, had endured great hardships from continued drought and the barren- 

 ness of the country. Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, one of the party, was about to publish 

 his journal of the Natural History of the Expedition ; but, considering the vast extent 

 of country traversed, only a small number of objects of interest was found, most speci- 

 mens being met with in the settled districts, or in places before partially known or 

 explored. Mr. Wilson added that his own South Australian collection of insects 

 numbered between 5000 and 6000 specimens, of which fully one- third were Coleoptera, 

 and he was gradually adding to them those of other colonies. 



Mr. Benjamin T. Lowne (who was present as a visitor) exhibited specimens of thirty- 

 three species of ants from Port Jackson, Australia, which he had collected during October 

 and November last. The collection was entirely made in the immediate neighbour- 



