THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 105.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1858. [Price \d. 
Leucania Vitellina. (See p 2.) 
THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Not long ago we had a letter from a 
grown-up individual, though a young 
entomologist, enquiring if the Ento- 
mological Society of London was still 
in existence, and, if so, whether it was 
possible to be present at one of the 
Meetings. 
Now we certainly were much sur- 
prised at being asked such a question, 
for we thought every one of our readers 
must know all about the Entomological 
Society; but here was an adult indi- 
vidual, with certainly an average amount 
of intelligence, gravely propounding the 
problem, Is the Entomological Society 
of London still in existence? Almost 
reminding us of one of our schoolboy 
tliemes, “ Whether there is such a thing 
as a Kraken.” Of course, as we were 
then great believers in the marvellous, 
we proved to our satisfaction that there 
was a Kraken, and in like manner we 
hope to be able to convince our readers 
that there still is an Entomological 
Society of London. 
Prior to 1748 there existed in London 
a Society of Aurelians (as entomologists 
were then called), which held its meet- 
ings at the Swan Tavern, in ’Change 
Alley. The fate of this Society was 
both ludicrous and melancholy : “ On 
the 25th of March, 1847, a great lire 
broke out in Cornhill, in which the 
Swan Tavern was burnt down, together 
with the Society’s valuable collection of 
insects, books, See., and all their re- 
galia. The Society was then silting ; 
yet so sudden and so rapid was the 
impetuous course of the fire that the 
flames beat against the windows before 
they could well get out of the room, 
many of them leaving their hats and 
canes. Their loss so much disheartened 
them that, although they several times 
met for that purpose, they never could 
collect so many together as would be 
sufficient to form a Society.” 
B 
