Entomological Society. 



7909 



The only difference is in the cocoon with which they are lined, which is spun by the 

 royal larva, and is more substantial than that of the ordinary worker-larva. This 

 cocoon, however, does not line the upper end of the cell, as that would melt and the 

 lower part must then drop off if an extreme temperature were applied. It has been 

 too much the fashion of late years to decry and discredit the theories of Huber ; 

 some throw doubt on the influence or even the existence of royal jelly, but in this 

 case, as in similar ones, I believe that accurate investigation will prove Huber 

 to be right." 



Professor Westwood remarked that the question of the development of the queen- 

 bee, by increased heat, did not appear to him at all proved by Principal Leitch's obser- 

 vations. The position of the cell itself, generally on the outer edge of the comb, and 

 never, or but very rarely, in the centre of the upper part of the hive, where the greatest 

 heat is concentrated, seemed to militate against this new theory ; whilst Professor 

 Westwood considered that (as it was satisfactorily established that the working bee was 

 only an abortive queen, aud that a queen might be developed from an egg which in 

 ordinary circumstances would only produce a worker), he was justified by analogy, in 

 regarding the numerous queen wasps in a vespiary as produced from the same kind of 

 eggs as the workers, and also that the working ant, the soldier working ant and the 

 female ants are also only modifications produced from the same kind of eggs. He 

 considered, therefore, that the development of the queen-bee must be explained on 

 the same principle as that which is adopted in those other social insects, and not that 

 a special system, namely, that of heat, is required for the queen of the hive alone. 



Mr. Tegetmeier observed that, in bringing the theory of Principal Leitch under the 

 notice of the Society, he did not wish it to be understood that he considered the evi- 

 dence advanced in its favour to be conclusive, still he could not but think that the iso- 

 lated position of the queen-cell very much favoured the supposition that increased 

 heat is at least one of the causes of the perfect development of the female bee ; whilst 

 the royal jelly theory does not offer the slightest explanation of this extraordinary 

 deviation in structure and position from the ordinary or worker cells. 



Mr. Stainton read, " Descriptions of Nine New Exotic Species of Gracillaria," 

 and exhibited a beautiful coloured plate with which he proposed to illustrate the paper 

 in the Society's 'Transactions five of these species were collected near Calcutta by 

 Mr. Atkinson, and the remaining four were sent from Moreton Bay by Mr. Diggles. 



Mr. M'Lachlan read " Characters of New Species of Exotic Trichoptera, and of 

 four New Species Inhabiting Britain." — E. S. 



Anniversary Meeting, January 27, 1862. — J. W. Douglas, Esq., President, in the 

 chair. 



Messrs. R. H. Mitford, F. P. Pascoe, F. Smith and Alexander Wallace were elected 

 Members of the Council, in the room of Messrs. Douglas, Janson, M'Lachlan and 

 Stainton. 



Mr. F. Smith was elected President; Mr. S. Stevens, Treasurer; and Messrs. E. 

 Shepherd and Dunning, Secretaries. 



A Report from the Council on the state of the Library and Collections was read 

 and received. 



