416 
stituents must be a good manure. The nitrogen, I may ob¬ 
serve, is in a state in which it is very easily developed into 
ammonia, by putrefaction, and in this particular it differs 
from bones. I recollect stating in my report it was not pro¬ 
perly called urate. I made that statement on these grounds, 
that, if an urate, it should have contained a large quantity 
of gypsum, but that such was not the case. There was a 
little gypsum, but merely the equivalent of the superphos¬ 
phate present in it; the quantity of superphosphate of lime 
was small, and the quantity of ammonia was small also, but 
then it should be recollected that there is no superphos¬ 
phate at all in Peruvian guano. I can, therefore, easily con¬ 
ceive that this so called urate would be productive, in the 
case of green crops requiring superphosphate, of the very 
best effects.” 
Now, the Urate of the London Manure Company 
thus powerfully eulogized is well-known to he com¬ 
pounded from the sewage of the Metropolis. 
The anniversary meeting of the Entomological Society 
was held on the 23rd of January, when the four gentle¬ 
men, whose names had been proposed at the ordinary 
meeting of January for removal were accordingly re¬ 
moved, and Messrs. Stainton, Dallas, F. Smith, and 
Edward Shepherd, elected in their stead. No change 
was made in the offices of the President (who holds 
the Presidentship for two years), Treasurer, and Sec¬ 
retaries. The President delivered an address, for which 
a vote of thanks was passed, accompanied by a request 
that it should he published. The great advantages 
which have accrued to Entomology by the exertions of 
numerous collectors in foreign regions was especially 
dwelt upon, together with the necessity for a more 
liberal encouragement of them than they in general 
receive. 
The ordinary meeting for February was held on the 
6th of that month, Edward Newman, Esq., F.R.S., the 
President, being in the chair. Messrs. Stainton, F. 
Smith, and Mr. W. Saunders, were nominated by him 
to be the Vice-Presidents for the ensuing year. The 
President exhibited sj)ecimens of both sexes of a new 
genus of Moths, sent from South America by Mr. 
Bates, by whom they had been reared from the Cater¬ 
pillar, which reside, singly, in curiously-constructed 
cases, which they bear about with them (like snail 
shells), and into which they withdraw the head when 
alarmed. The female is winged. The President pro¬ 
posed for this new genus the name Saccophora Batesii, 
and considered it to be allied to Psyche, hut it seems to 
us to be much nearer to Gastropacha. 
A magnificent collection of Butterflies and Moths, 
collected in Ceylon, by Mr. E. Layard, was exhibited 
by that gentleman, by whom many of the species had 
been reared from the Caterpillar state. The collection 
is especially rich in small Butterflies, the nocturnal 
species. We also especially remarked some mag¬ 
nificent species of the restricted genus Papilio, as 
many as eight or ten of which have been reared, and a 
most lovely hair-streak Butterfly, with long tails to the 
; hind wings, as well as several species of Death Head 
; Moths. 
I Mr. J. Curtis read a memoir upon the British species 
March 2. 
of click Beetles ( Elateridce ), entering critically into 
their nomenclature, and describing several new British 
species. He likewise called attention to their larvte, 
which are known under the common name of “ wire 
worms,” and are very destructive to vegetation, several 
species of which he had represented in his memoirs in 
the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. Mr. S 
Stevens also exhibited a species of the same family, 
new to this country, being the Plater impressus of 
Fabricius, which had been taken at Rannock, in Perth¬ 
shire, by Messrs. Weaver and Foxcroft, whose researches 
had added so many species, hitherto only found in the 
north of continental Europe, to our native fauna. 
Mr. S. Stevens also exhibited two striking varieties of 
the Fritillary Butterflies, Argynnis Pitphrosyne, and 
Arg. Paphia. The former remarkable for having a 
black fascia across the fore wings, and the latter for 
having large black blotches on the upper side of the 
wings. They were both taken near Ipswich, by Mr. 
Johnson. 
Mr. Douglas exhibited a specimen of the common 
Phigalia pilosaria, remarkable for having been taken 
as early as the 24th of January, late at night, having 
been attracted to the light of a gas-lamp, at Lee, in 
Kent. Mr. Douglas further observed, that he had, on 
a former occasion, observed Moths late at night flying 
about the lamps where they had not been visible at an 
earlier period of the evening. He likewise recommended 
the attention of entomologists to the curious fact, that 
notwithstanding the severity of the season, he had 
already found the larvae of the minute but beautiful 
Moths forming the genus Piachista, forming their 
burrows in the leaves of different kinds of grasses, so 
that it was necessary for persons who were anxious to 
rear them to be on the look-out already for their Cater¬ 
pillars. 
Mr. G. R. Waterhouse directed the attention of the 
members to the new illustrated work on the Genera of 
European Beetles, of which the publication, by M. 
Jacquelin Duval, has been commenced, and which 
promises to be of great service to the science. Spe¬ 
cimens of the coloured plates were exhibited. He 
likewise made some observations on the generic identity 
of two groups of exotic Curculionidm, which had been 
named Cherrus and Polyphrades, by the late M. 
Schonherr. 
The Secretary announced that the Council have ex¬ 
tended the time for the receipt of Essays in competition 
for the prizes on the subject of the Mussel Scale of the 
Apple, &c., to the 30th of December, 1854, and Jhat 
they offer a similar prize of £5 5s. for an Essay on the 
Natural History of the Coccus producing the lac dye of 
commerce, Dr. Royle having kindly offered to furnish to 
applicants the information on this subject in the 
possession of the East India Company, and to procure 
from the resources of the Company, in India, any 
further particulars that may be required. The Essays 
to be delivered by the 31st of December, 1855. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
