Entomological Society. 



6773 



"Sir,— -I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in sending the enclosed insects 

 to you; they are doing me an immense amount of injury by eating the leaves of 

 young Rhododendrons, and it appears to me they will destroy some thousands if a 

 remedy cannot be found to destroy them. Could you favour me with its name, its 

 mode of life, how and where its eggs were laid, and if any known remedy can be 

 adopted to destroy it?" 



Mr. Janson observed that the insects sent were Strophosomus limbatus, a Curculio 

 common on heath, and therefore doubtless abundant in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of Mr. Nobles grounds; and the President remarked that it was scarcely to be 

 wondered at that the insect should attack Rhododendrons, which belong to the same 

 natural order of plants as heaths. 



Bees drinking from a Cludyheate Spring. 

 Mr. Tegetmeier stated that when recently at Blechynden, near Southampton, he 

 was informed that the bees in the neighbourhood resorted almost exclusively to one 

 particular spring, or deep open cutting dug for draining: on examination, he found 

 that the water was strongly impregnated with iron, evidently derived from the 

 decomposition of iron pyrites. He noticed that the bees congregated in the greatest 

 numbers at the head of the cutting, drinking the water as it issued from the ground, 

 before it had deposited any of the iron as peroxide. There were numerous other 

 open cuttings in the field, the water in which was not impregnated with iron, and 

 they were not frequented by the bees. The fact of bees preferring a chalybeate 

 spring had not, he believed, been previously noticed. 



Mr. Pascoe stated that the collection of insects of all orders belonging to the 

 United Service Museum was to be disposed of by private contract. 



October 3, 1859. — Dr. Gray, President, in the chair. 



Donations. 



The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented to 

 the donors: — 1 The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,' Vol. xx. 

 Part 1 ; presented by the Society. 1 Tijdschrift voor Entomologie uitgegeven door de 

 Nederlandsche Entomologische Vereeniging,' Vol. iii. Parts 3, 4 and 5 ; by the Ento- 

 mological Society of the Netherlands. ' Journal of the Procedings of the Linnean 

 Society,' Vol. iv. No. 14; by the Society. 'Farm Insects,' Part 5 ; by the author, 

 John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. 1 Exotic Butterflies,' Part 32 ; by W. W. Saunders, Esq., 

 F.R.S. 4 The Zoologist' for October ; by the Editor. ' The Journal of the Society 

 of Arts ' for September ; by the Editor. ' The Literary Gazette ' for September ; by 

 the Editor. 1 The Athenaeum ' for August ; by the Editor. ' A Manual of British 

 Butterflies and Moths,' Vol. ii. ; ' The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer,' No. 157; 

 « The Natural History of the Tineina,' Vol. iv. ; by H. T. Stainton, Esq. ' Bijdragen 

 tot de Dierkunde uitgegeven door het Koninklijk Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra 

 te Amsterdam.' Part 7 ; by La Commission du Jardin Zoologique d'Amslerdam. Four 

 specimens of Pterophorus Loewii ; by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge. 



Election of a Member. 

 The Baron Maximilian de Chaudoir was balloted for, and elected a Member of 

 the Society. 



