Entomological Society. 6037 



Mr. Westwood also exhibited the larva of Drilus flavescens, which had been sought 

 for in vain in snail-shells during the excursions of the Society at Reigate, vi^here the 

 males were not uncommon. He had received the larva from a correspondent who had 

 found it in a snail-shell, and it agreed with the figures which had been published in 

 France, where its transformations had attracted considerable attention some years ago, 

 and where the female had been described as a distinct genus, under the name of 

 Cochlevetonus. 



Dr. Gray observed that this larva was known to Petiver one hundred years ago. 



Mr. S. S. Saunders exhibited two specimens of Leptoderus Hohewartii (Stagobius 

 troglodytes, Schiodte, Trans. Ent. Soc., n. s., v. 1, pi. 9, figs. 1, I a), one of the blind 

 beetles from the Protens Cave at Adelsberg, in Soulh Austria. The species, which 

 pertains to the Silphad^ (although the extraordinary elongation of the antennae and 

 legs give it an appearance quite dissimilar to that of any other genus in the family), 

 was found by Mr. Saunders on a large Stalactite in the deepest part of the cave. 



Mr. Smith exhibited some Hymeuoptera and their nests, sent from Port Natal by 

 M. Gueinzius, and read the following note communicated by him: — 



On the Habits of the Hymenoptera of Natal. 



" A species of Stilbum lays its eggs on the collected caterpillars stored up by 

 Eumenes tinctor, which constructs a nest of mud and attaches it to reeds, &c., not 

 in single cells, but a large mass, in which cells are excavated, similar to the nest of 

 Chalicodoma micraria. How does the fly, with such an apparently weak instrument, 

 penetrate such a structure .f* First, it uses it as a gimlet, and when its point has a 

 little penetrated, then as a saw or rasp : it likewise feels with its ovipositor, and, finding 

 an unfinished or an empty cell, it withdraws it immediately, without laying an egg. 

 A great number of insects breed annually in my house, for which purpose I have 

 always a door or window open to give them free ingress and egress. I once observed 

 a wasp (Synagris calida), flying about my door; I attempted to catch it, when it flew 

 ofl", but I observed that it returned again and again; at length I noticed some fresh 

 clay stuck on the door, indicating an intention of building: I was anxious to observe 

 its movements and to reconcile it to my standing the door quite back, inwards; this I 

 eff'ected by partly closing it and then watching the return of the insect with its clay; 

 when it was settled, and was eagerly engaged, I moved the door slowly and carefully, 

 and thus by degrees, in the course of two days, I had the satisfaction to see the 

 Synagris during its building operations : it soon became accustomed to the closest ob- 

 servation, and took no notice of me. One day the Synagris, having finished a cell, 

 and not having time to commence a new one, had to perch on the exposed nest 

 during the night ; the light of my candle, however, attracted it, and it flew into the 

 room, and took shelter behind a window-curtain until the morning. This insect 

 collects the larvae of Catocala and other Noctuidse which secrete themselves in the 

 fissures of tree-bark, between seed-vessels or contracted leaves. I once observed this 

 Synagris sitting on the leaves of a fine Zinnia elegans ; it wandered about as a pointer 

 dog would do, inserting its long maxillae here and there, and getting more and more 

 excited every moment ; at length it began to buzz loudly, and struggling it drew forth 

 at last a hidden caterpillar from the middle of one of the flowers of the Zinnia. No 

 tiger could have been more furious over its prey : with what fury it ran its sting into 

 the abdomen of its helpless victim again and again, and with what a buzz of savage 

 glee it dragged it about from leaf to leaf! at length, striding over it, the caterpillar 



