8260 



Entomological Society. 



Mr. Jenner examined the sticks, he found that in some the larva? had already turned 

 to pupae; in others the full-fed larvae were still unturned. In July, three of the pupae 

 produced moths, one a female, the others males. One died in its abortive attempt to 

 become a moth, the stick having been cut off close to its head : another, concealed in 

 a stick which had been split and again tied together, changed to a crippled pupa, and 

 so died. In no instance could it be ascertained that the larva had eaten after the 

 stick had been cut and its occupant examined. A number of pupae still remain in the 

 cut sticks. A somewhat careful examination of the sticks has led me to the following 

 conclusions: — that the egg is laid on the smooth bark of the ash, just above one 

 of the cicatrices whence a leaf of the preceding year has fallen : the little grub, 

 entering the bark through a minute hole which it has gnawed, ascends the stem, at 

 least as far as the next cicatrix, the excavation thus made assuming the shape of a 

 very acutely pointed inverted cone ; when arrived at its distal extremity the larva 

 appears to turn round and descend to the point whence it started, devouring and 

 widening its gallery as it descends: when arrived at the starting point the figure of its 

 gallery is entirely changed, and is now a smooth cylindrical bore; at the lower 

 extremity the larva gnaws the wood away, making a convenient chamber for its trans- 

 formation, and leaving only the outer cuticle of bark reduced to the thinness of 

 tissue-paper: this is ruptured by the moth in its struggles to escape, and it emerges 

 from its prison head downwards. There is no evidence to show the duration of the 

 larva state'" 



Mr. Waterhouse and Mr, J. S. Baly referred to cases of damage done to ash-poles 

 by Pachyta collaris ; and Prof. Westwood mentioned instances of the destruction of 

 hop-poles by Clytus Arietis; the poles attacked by the Clytus were, however, of oak 

 and not of ash. 



Mr. Stainton communicated the following: — 



Note respecting the Micropteryx bred from Hazel-leaves by Herr Kaltenbach. 

 " Having long had an intense desire to know what was really the species that Herr 

 Kaltenbach had bred from hazel-leaves, I visited Aix la Chapelle for the purpose of 

 satisfying my curiosity, being of opinion that, especially in Entomology, there is no 

 saying more true than 'Seeing is believing.' Having now seen a series of the 

 Micropteryx bred by Herr Kaltenbach, I am able to verify his assertion that the 

 insect is Micropteryx fastuosella; and having seen the dried hazel-leaves in which the 

 larva had fed, I can no longer doubt that a Micropteryx larva does feed in the leaves 

 of hazel {Corylus Avellana). M. fastuosella is closely allied to M. subpurpurella, 

 which we know to be attached to oak, and which has now been bred by Mr. Wilkinson 

 from larvae mining in oak-leaves, and it was rather a doubtful question whether 

 M. fastuosella was really distinct from M. subpurpurella. In conversation with Herr 

 Kaltenbach I learned that M. fastuosella appears with him as early as March, and 

 that the feeding larvae are to be found in April, when the nut-leaves are not yet fully ex- 

 panded, and the dried nut leaves which I saw fully confirmed this statement by their 

 small size. By the end of April the season for these larva? is over. 



" I should trust that with this information we should next spring have no diffi- 

 culty in finding the hazel-miners in England." 



Prof. Westwood exhibited a further portion of the additions recently made to the 



