6616 



Entomological Society. 



Exhibitions. 



Mr. Stevens exhibited some butterflies taken by Mr. Wallace, in New Guinea, the 

 most conspicuous being a beautiful Hestia, allied to H. D'Urvillei. 



Mr. Westwood exhibited a number of specimens of Oxytelus sculptus, one of the 

 smaller Brachelytra, which had been found by a correspondent upon young cucumber 

 plants after dark, four different sowings of which had been destroyed without any trace 

 of the depredator being visible, during the day. It was consequently supposed that 

 wood-lice were the cause of the mischief, but on examining the plant with a light, 

 after dark, vast numbers of this species, with a few individuals of two small species of 

 Philonthus, were captured, which were considered by Mr. Westwood to be the 

 cause of the damage in question, although contrary to the generally-received opinion 

 of the insectivorous habits of the Staphylinidae. Mr. Westwood referred to the occur- 

 rence of great numbers of these insects in decaying Fungi, Boleti and dung, considering 

 that it was on the vegetable matter they fed, as was also the case with the larva of one 

 of the species described in the Linnean ' Transactions,' by Mr. Walford, which destroys 

 young wheat plants by gnawing through the stems. 



Several members present dissented from this view, ■end Mr. F. Smith especially 

 mentioned Oxyporus rufus, which, although always found in Fungi, is evidently, from 

 its structure, a very voracious insect-feeder. 



Mr. Westwood exhibited both sexes of Mutilla (Psammothera) flabellata, one of 

 the Aculeate Hymenoptera, from South Africa, anomalous on account of the male pos- 

 sessing bipectinated antennae, a peculiarity known only to occur in two or three other 

 of the Aculeata. Mr. Westwood regretted that he was compelled to employ this term 

 anomalous after observations made at the last meeting, and subsequently in the ' Intel- 

 ligencer,' with reference to its alleged impropriety, considering that no other word so 

 completely expressed the peculiarity of an animal which exhibited a departure from 

 the ordinary structure of the group to which it belonged. It was erroneous to assert 

 that it was only our ignorance which compelled us to regard such structures as irregu- 

 larities or anomalies ; on the contrary, it was our knowledge of vast numbers of 

 species belonging to the group in question which enabled us to say what were its 

 regular, normal or ordinary characters. 



Mr. Westwood also exhibited three very interesting additions to the British lists. 

 The first of these was the Blatta Acervorum of Panzer, which formed the type of the 

 genus Myrmecophila, and which, although strictly belonging to the family of which 

 the house cricket may be considered as the type, had been regarded by Mr. MacLeay 

 as the osculant form between the Blatlidee, representing the cursorial, and the Achetidaj, 

 representing the saltatorial, Hymenoptera. It had been found in moss by the Rev. 

 F. W. Hope, in the Archdeacon's Copse, near Netley, Shropshire. The second was 

 the Bethyllus depressus of Fabricius (being the type of Kliig's genus Pristocera), and 

 interesting amongst the Hymenoptera as forming one of the connecting liuks between 

 the Aculeata and Terebrantia ; it had also been taken by Mr. Hope, in Shropshire. 

 The third of these insects was the Dryinus formicarius of Latreille, figured in the 

 * Genera Crustaceorum,' and of the greatest rarity on the Continent. This elegant 

 insect was remarkable for the anomalous structure of its anterior tarsi, which are ter- 

 minated by a long slender recurved forceps nearly as long as the entire tarsus : a 

 single specimen had been taken by Dr. Baly, at Cobham, in October, and by him pre- 

 sented to Mr. Westwood. 



