Insects. 



8261 



Oxford Museum by Mr. Stone, of Brighthampton. The exhibition on the present 

 occasion consisted principally of the dried leaves of trees and plants which had been 

 mined by the larvae of Lepidopterous, or in more numerous instances of Dipterous, 

 insects. The leaves were arranged for the cabinet on cardboard, so as to show at a 

 glance the distinctions between the various mines, — a point of considerable impor- 

 tance in the determination of the different species. 



Prof. Westwood also called attention to the state of the turnip crops in the Mid- 

 land Counties; he had been informed that the turnips had been attacked by a pro- 

 fusion of a green insect, like that on the rose, and hence he had inferred the presence 

 of a species of Aphis. Some turnip-leaves had subsequently been sent to him ; the 

 outer ones were dead and shrivelled, and both sides of the leaves and the stems were 

 coated with a thick white mould, but no Aphides were visible. Whether the white 

 matter had by his informants been mistaken for the insect, or whether it was the result 

 of the attacks of Aphides, the Professor was unable to state ; but he thought the latter 

 hypothesis the more probable, and that the plants had been reduced to a bad state of 

 health by the attacks of an Aphis, and the mould had grown in consequence. 



Prof. Westwood also made some remarks on the law of priority of nomenclature, 

 with reference to Dr. Schaum's paper on that subject read at the April Meeting of the 

 Society ; he expressed his agreement with what is stated in the abstract of Dr. 

 Schaum's paper (see ' Proceedings' for April), and was disposed to think that, at all 

 events in some cases, a modification of the rule of priority might with propriety be intro- 

 duced, as e.g. where the careful monographer of a group has been anticipated by a 

 short interval of time by a mere casual describer. 



Papers read. 



The following papers were read : — " Descriptions of several new and rare Lucanoid 

 Coleoptera," by Major F. J. Sidney Parry, F.L.S. ; and " Descriptions of new East- 

 Asiatic Species of Haliplidae and Hydroporidse,'' by the Rev. Hamlet Clark, M.A., 

 F.L.S.-/. W. D. 



Description of a new Species of Ptinella ; being supplemental to 

 the Paper referred to below. By the Rev. A. Matthews, M.A. 



The Ptinella so often mentioned in ray review of the genus (Zool. 

 8053 — 8060), under the name of Ptinella ratisbonensis, has proved to 

 be a new and undescribed species, At page 8058 I alluded to the 

 possibility of a mistake, as the name was founded on the conjecture of 

 M. Aube, who had never actually seen the true P. ratisbonensis. Only 

 a few weeks ago Dr. Schaum very kindly gave me one of the original 

 specimens from which Gillmeister's figure and description of T. ratis- 

 bonensis were taken ; and I find it is totally distinct from the species 

 in question. It has therefore become necessary to invent some fresh 

 appellation for our British insect, and, considering the multitudinous 



