147 
Entomoloyical Society. 
its escape. He had also reared the parasitic Ichneumon attached to 
this species. He also exhibited specimens of the Coccus manniparus 
of Klug, brought from Arabia by Ehrenberg, as well as some manna 
brought from Mount Tabor by Lieut. Wellstead ; and exhibited spe- 
cimens of the Womda, an analogous secretion formed upon the under 
sides of the leaves of the various species of Eucalyptus South 
Wales by a minute species of Psylla, numbers of which were found 
secreted amongst the Womela. Mr. Westwood had been informed 
by Mr. Gould, that for several months last year this secretion formed 
a large portion of the food of the natives. The insects are attacked 
by a minute and very beautiful parasite of the genus Encyrtus. Mr. 
Harrington also stated that the genus Eurymela produces a kind of 
manna on the Eucalypti, and which falls to the ground in the shape 
of small white crystals. 
A letter was read from W. Spence, Esq., inclosing an extract from 
a letter from his son R. Spence, Esq., giving an account of the dis- 
covery, by Professor Schiodte, of as many as twenty species of blind 
insects of different orders and genera, all new, in the caves of Styria ; 
so that it would appear that there exists a subterranean fauna of blind 
animals. Ten of the insects were Coleopterous. It was mentioned 
that a Carabideous genus without eyes has lately been described 
by the German naturalists, and that various blind insects and spi- 
ders had been found in the mammoth- caves in Kentucky. (See Dr. 
Erichson’s ‘ Bericht ’ for 1844.) 
An extraet from a letter addressed by Captain Boys to Mr. West- 
wood was read, giving an account of the habits of some Indian s])ecies 
of ants, white ants, and other insects : — 
“ On our way down towards Sukker, I observed what I consider 
an uiidescribed species of Termcs, of an unusually large size, of which 
I made a note. The workers alone are nearly half an inch long. 
I never saw such monsters. The nestis peeuliar. From the surface 
of the plain on which I observed these nests, which are conieal in 
form, little hillocks of about six inches high were seen at various 
distances from each other, from five feet to twenty apart. These 
were composed of grains of earth worked up to about the size of 
millet seeds, and were quite loose, and might be taken up in hand- 
fuls. Inside each of these heaps, a raised structure, branching off 
in three or four short arms, was to be found, with an internal passage 
from the surface of the earth to each branch : but how the creatures 
contrived to cover the whole without appearing outside is left to 
conjecture. The apex of each cone was about three-quarters of an 
inch from the arborescent-looking structure inside. The latter was 
also composed of small pellets of earth, but half as fine as the super- 
incumbent grains, and were moreover glued firmly to each other. I 
removed the earth from the outside of several nests, and blew away 
all the pellets, leaving only the stump sticking erect from the earth. 
At the top of the latter and at the end of each branch was an orifice, 
— the continuation of the internal canal. In about ten minutes hosts 
of the inhabitant ants came up with earth freshly manipulated, and 
began pouring their pellets out of each orifice : the latter of course 
10 * 
