7980 



Entomological Society. 



convincing proof that C. rotundaria was a mere variation, to which both the acknow- 

 ledged species C. pusaria and C. exanthemaria were liable. 



Mr. Huckett, who was present as a visitor, stated that the larva; from which he had 

 bred the specimens exhibited were all taken at the same time and place, and that he 

 had but two species of larva, viz. y those usually known as the larvae of C. pusaria aud 

 C exanthemaria. 



Mr. Dunning referred to the exhibition of Cabera rotundaria by Captain Russell, 

 at the February Meeting of the Society, as corroborating Mr. Newman's conclusion, 

 and stated that the question of the specific distinctness of that form had on several 

 occasions been brought under the notice of the Northern Entomological Society, the 

 members of which, who had had frequent opportunities of raising Cabera from the 

 larva, had satisfied themselves that C. rotundaria was in fact but a variety. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited some butterflies' eggs, sent to him by Mr. Nathaniel Plant, 

 from Rio Grande. He was not able to give any further information concerning them. 



Mr. W. Wilson Saunders exhibited the larva and pupa of Endomychus coccineus, 

 which had been recently taken in the neighbourhood of Reigate, under the bark of a 

 log of elm which was lying on the ground. The larvae were found fifty together, and were 

 apparently feeding on a white fibrous flocculent fungoid substance underneath the bark. 

 They bore a very close resemblance to the larvae of some species of Coccinella. Many 

 of the perfect insects were found at the same time in company with the larvae. Tt was 

 a curious question how the parent insect, when laying her eggs, discovered the presence 

 of the fungoid substance which was necessary for the sustenance of the larvae to be 

 born. It could not be by sight, and Mr. Saunders thought it wa" most probably by 

 smell, which seemed to be the only sense that we know insects to possess to which such 

 a discovery could be attributed. 



Mr. Saunders also exhibited a piece of a branch of dead wood from South Africa, 

 where it bad been found by Mr. Cooper, tunnelled down the centre by a species of bee, 

 Xylocopa divisa. The tunnel was round, very neatly constructed, with a circular orifice 

 pierced through the baik, and was made for the purpose of nidification. 



Mr. Saunders also exhibited two portions of the stem of a greenhouse creeper 

 (Jacsonia), to show the effect of the punctures of the common mealy bug (Coccus) 

 upon the bark. These punctures produce warty elevations, which are covered with a 

 whitish skin, and are internally green and somewhat succulent. When the punctures 

 are very numerous and the bark becomes covered with warts, the functions of the bark 

 appear to cease, and great injury to the plant ensues. Mr. Saunders made some 

 remarks on the desirability of a history of the insects peculiarly destructive to plants, 

 of which so many new discoveries had of late years been made. 



Mr. Saunders also exhibited the female, the egg and the young larva (?) of Exta- 

 losoma Hopei, a rare and interesting insect of the family Phasmidae, from the New 

 Hebrides. The eggs were polished, oval, of a dull mottled brown colour, and about 

 one-tenth of an inch in length. The larva escaped from the egg at one end, throwing 

 off from it a rounded operculum, in which was a deep circular impression. The larvae 

 forwarded as those of E. Hopei had no resemblance to the perfect insect, and, although 

 evidently of the family Phasmidae, it seemed very doubtful whether they belonged to 

 the insect in question. They were long and thin in the body, with very long legs, aud 

 fchort rather stout antenna?. In the dried state they were of a dull black-brown 

 colour. 



Professor Wcstwood agreed with Mr. Saunders in doubting whether the larvae could 



