8614 



Entomological Society. 



Bogota ; and a single specimen of a Coleopterous insect received from Australia, 

 which appeared to be precisely identical with the British Sinodendron cylindvicum, 

 and which, it was suggested, had probably in the larva state been imported into 

 Australia from this country, in wood. 



Mr. M'Lachlaa exhibited the case of a caddis-worm (a species of Limnephilus), 

 which was almost entirely composed of from 250 to 300 minute shells of a Planorbis, 

 arranged with the utmost regularity, so as to resemble a piece of mosaic. 



Mr. Edwin Shepherd exhibited specimens of Biston betularius, which had been 

 raised from eggs forwarded to him from Lancashire by Mr. Edleston. In the course 

 of last year Mr. Edleston had found a pair of that species in copulA, one of the spe- 

 cimens being of the usual gray colour, and the other of the black variety occasionally 

 found in the North of England : the eggs forwarded were the fruit of that union, and 

 Mr. Shepherd had succeeded in breeding twelve specimens of the perfect moth; of 

 these, eight were of the normal colour, and four of the negro variety ; ten of the 

 twelve were females, and of the two males one was of the typical form and the other 

 was a negro. The whole of the larvae were fed on the same food, principally on lime 

 leaves. It was remarkable that the negro variety had never been captured in the 

 South, and that even in the North no intermediate forms had ever been met with to 

 connect and link together the light gray type and the sooty black variety. 



Mr. Waring exhibited some dead pupee of drones, which h'e had found near the 

 mouth of one of his bee-hives: the pupae had not quite arrived at maturity, and it 

 would seem that the bees must have cut off the caps of the cells containing them, and 

 have cast them out of the hive. He was unable to throw any light upon the cause of 

 the death of the pupae. 



Mr. T. W. Wood made some remarks on the mimicry of Nature by herself, as 

 exemplified by the colouring of the under side of the wings of Anthocharis Car- 

 damines, and on the utility of such mimetic resemblances in the preservation of 

 insects. During the present month of May, towards evening or in cloudy weather, 

 the orange-tip butterfly might be found at rest in exposed situations by the sides of 

 roads and lanes, on the tops of grass and flowers, but more particularly on Anthriscus 

 sylvestris, and almost always in the neighbourhood of that plant : the chequered white 

 and green, which alone were visible when the insect was at rest, exactly represented 

 the small white flowers of the Anthriscus, as seen against the green background of the 

 hedgerow behind. It was remarkable also that the butterfly did not appear to be 

 partial to the Anthriscus, except as a secure resting-place, but preferred to hover over 

 and suck the juices of the wild geranium and other flowers. 



Mr. Waterhouse exhibited British specimens of Oxypoda lentula, Erichs., 

 Kraatz, &c, Oxypoda misella, Kraatz, Trechus obtusus, Erichs., and Bembidium 

 (Philochlhus) Mannerheimii, Sahlberg ; and read the following notes on those 

 species : — 



" I. The Oxypoda lentula is about equal in size to the Homalota Fungi, and has 

 antennas with very nearly the same proportions as to length and thickness, but the 

 elytra and basal half of abdomen are rather narrower, and hence the general form is 

 more inclining to the linear. The colouring is dullish slaty black, reminding one of 

 the Myllaenae in this respect ; the antennas and legs are piceous, the knees and tarsi 

 a little paler than the other parts ; the punctuation of the upper parts is very fine and 

 dense throughout, a little less dense on the head; and the insect is densely clothed 



