December 22. 
ol j THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
The December Meeting of the Entomological Society, 
held on the 5tli instant, was one of the most nume¬ 
rously attended we have ever seen, shewing the in¬ 
creased interest given to the subject. The President, 
Edward Newman, Esq., was in the chair. Mr. West- 
wood stated, that having been afforded an opportunity 
of examining a living male specimen of the Bee Para¬ 
site Melittobra Andouinii, he had distinctly seen the 
ocelli, which are not visible after death. 
As usual, a considerable number of new and in¬ 
teresting Lepidoptera were exhibited by different 
members. Mr. Scott, of Renfrew, sent a new Cnephasia, 
allied to C. bellana, from Scotland; Mr. Douglas, speci¬ 
mens of Yponomeata cerorella, a brood of the Cater¬ 
pillars of which had been found on the common 
Spindle-tree near Wandsworth; Mr. Stainton also ex¬ 
hibited tbe cocoons of the same species. 
Mr. Westwood exhibited a portion of honey-comb, 
received from an anonymous correspondent, from a 
hive, the queen of which only deposited drone eggs, 
which were, also, sometimes placed at random in the 
cells of workers, causing an irregularity in the arrange¬ 
ment of the series of the latter; the hive, in conse¬ 
quence, became tenantless in the month of September. 
Mr. Curtis exhibited a box containing a number of 
Bees, Wasps, and Sand-wasps, from the South of 
Europe, received from Signors Passerini and Bertoloni, 
and Mons. Le’on Dufour. The first-named gentleman 
had paid considerable attention to the habits of several 
of these insects, and he was about to publish his ob¬ 
servations upon them. He also exhibited some British 
species of Cuckoo Flies, which are parasitic upon the 
large Saw Flies of the genus Trichiosoma, one species 
of which forms its cocoons upon whitethorns in hedges. 
The Secretary announced that the Council had de¬ 
termined to distribute their stock of duplicates of 
British Lepidoptera among the members, upon appli¬ 
cation to the Curator. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited a specimen of the raro 
Beetle Pogonocerus fasciculatus, taken by Mr. Foxcroft, 
in Scotland. Thus confirming the claims of that species 
to be regarded as a native species. It had previously 
been reared from the staves of a cask, respecting the 
place of manufacture of which there was a doubt. Also, 
a specimen of the new British Glowworm, taken by Mr. 
Foxcroft. It is rather smaller than the common Glow¬ 
worm, with shorter legs. The male has not yet been 
found. 
Mr. Wallace exhibited a new and very beautiful 
Longicorn Beetle from California, belonging to the 
geuus Acantliocinus. Also, a specimen of the very rare 
Butterfly, Erycina Octavius, of Cramer. He also read 
the completion of his memoir upon the habits of the 
various species and families of Butterflies which inhabit 
tbe valley of the Amazons. In the Ageronidce he had 
observed tbe noise made by the insect first noticed by 
Mr. Darwin, but he bad only heard it when those speci¬ 
mens were flying together and battling together in the 
air. Of the Heliconidtr he had found as many as sixty 
or seventy species. The gigantic Morp hides and Bras- 
solidcc are very slow in flight, the species of Caligo 
flying only at twilight. Of the beautiful family Eryci- 
nidee he had captured 200 species. They are pre¬ 
eminently forest Butterflies, setting on the underside 
of leaves with their wings expanded. The little Heli- 
copis, with gold spots on the underside of its wings, 
rests with them elevated. Of the Theclcc, as many as 
sixty species had been taken ; also, a great number of 
species of Ilesperida, the only British species of which, 
known under the common name of Skipper Butterflies, 
give but a faint idea of the brilliancy and rapidity of 
flight of the South American species. 
Mr. F. Smith read some further notes on the Bee 
parasite named Anthophorabia fasciata, by Mr. New¬ 
port, a male of which had been kept alive by him for 
seven weeks. The insect proves to be identical with 
the Cirrospilus Acastor, of Walker, which specific name 
must take precedence over the names proposed by 
Messrs. Westwood and Newport. Mr. Walker had, 
however, made a mistake in describing a female as a 
male, with which latter sex he was not acquainted. 
The remainder of the evening was occupied with a 
discussion upon the destructive habits of Scolytus De¬ 
structor, and the means for preventing its ravages. 
Captain Cox, who had paid great attention to the 
subject for several years past, and whose essay on the 
subjects bad received the gold medal of the Royal 
Botanic Society, brought for exhibition some pieces of 
the wood of Elm and Ash-trees, the former destroyed by 
the Scolytus, and the latter by Hyluryus Fraxini. He 
entirely opposed the opinion that only trees in 
an incipient state of disease are attacked by the 
Scolytus, having observed healthy trees destroyed by 
them in two years, especially mentioning a tree only 
twenty-eight years old, which bad been attacked by at 
least 280,000, judging from the number of tracks made 
by the larva;. It is the custom of the female to make 
a longitudinal burrow beneath the bark, depositing her 
eggs at regular intervals; and the young larvae, when 
hatched, burrow at right angles across the bark of the 
tree, by which means the circulation of the sap is 
entirely prevented, and the tree destroyed. He had 
been in communication with tbe Officers of the Woods 
and Forests in the hopes of inducing them to adopt his 
proposed remedy for preventing the destruction of the 
Elms in the public parks, &c., in the neighbourhood of 
London, but had found them apathetic upon the subject 
Old trees, which might have been saved, had been cut | 
down piece by piece, including the finest Elm in the 
kingdom, which grew opposite Buckingham Palace, 
and young ones planted in their stead, which, for want 
of proper precaution, were also attacked, and already j 
nearly killed. He had found that the most efficient : 
mode for preventing tbe destruction of the trees was | 
to disbark them to a considerable extent, burning tbe 
old bark full of the insects, tbe process inducing a 
strong growth of new bark. He had also investigated | 
the habits of tbe Caterpillar of the Goat Moth, Cossus j 
ligniperda, so called from the offensive smell which its j 
