Fig. 1. Arctopsyche ladogensis, neuration of wings; la, appendices
of ¢, from above; 1b, from side; 1c, maxillary palpus.
2. Dolophilus copiosus, neuration of wings; 2a, appendices of g,
from side; 2b, of 9; 2c, maxillary palpus.
3. Halesus (Drusus) Muelleri, appendices of ¢, from above; 3a,
from side (a, dorsal lobe; 6, app. intermed.; c, app. sup.;
d, app. inf.; e, penis).
4. Halesus-(Drusus) trifidus, appendices of g, from above; 4a,
from side.
5. Halesus (Drusus) rectus, appendices of g, from above; 5a,
from side.
6. Stenophylaw algosus, appendices of g , from above; 6a, from side.
7. Sericostoma faciale, appendices of g, from side; 7a, ventral
triangle ; 7b, app. intermed.; 7c, head and palpi.
8. Sericostoma carinthiacum, appendices of ¢, from side; 8a, ven-
tral triangle ; 8b, app. intermed.
308
Fig. 9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
fie
Mr. McLachlan on Huropean Trichoptera.
Explanation of Plate XIV (continued).
Rhyacophila venusta, apex of abdomen of g, from above, (the
app. inf. abbreviated); 9a, app. inf., from side; 9b, penis and
sheaths, from side.
Rhyacophila intermedia, apex of abdomen of ¢, from above;
10a, app. inf., from side ; 100, penis-sheath and valve, from
side.
Rhyacophila awrata, apex of abdomen of g, from above; lla,
app. inf., from side; 11b, penis-sheath, from side.
Rhyacophila vulgaris, apex of abdomen of ¢, from above; 12a,
app. inf., from side; 12b, penis and sheaths, from side.
Rhyacophila dorsalis, apex of abdomen of ¢, from above; 13a,
app. inf., from side ; 13b, penis and sheaths, from side.
Rhyacophila pawpera, apex of abdomen of g, from above; 14a,
app. inf., from side; 14b, penis and sheaths, from side.
Rhyacophila septentrionis, apex of abdomen of g, from above ;
15a, app. inf., from side.
Rhyacophila fasciata, apex of abdomen of ¢, irom above; 16a,
app. inf., from side.
Rhyacophila glareosa, apex of abdomen of g, from above; 17a,
from side.
Two unnumbered figures on the right hand side of the Plate near the
middle, represent Setodes mestella, apex of abdomen of ¢, from
above, and from side.
( 309 )
XVII. Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Hete-
romera. By Freperick Barss.
[Read 2nd November, 1868.]
The insects described in this paper belong to the fol-
lowing families and genera :—
Fam. TENEBRIONIDZ......... Gen. Aryenis, (n. g.). *
; Goniadera, Perty.
Afdiatoriz, (n. g.).
GisTnLED my aS i Chromomca, Pascoe.
TAGE Da. Sa. okey ae es Xenostethus, (n. g.).
In addition to which, three other genera of Tenebrio-
nide are proposed, namely, Chorasmius, A’mymone, and
Gamawus.
Fam. TENEBRIONIDA.
Sub.-Fam. Tenryrinz.
Apyenis;n, &. “(Pl XV. fied).
Taking Orbignianus as the type of Guérin’s genus
Hvaniosomus, the present genus differs from it in the
following particulars: form more elongate, slender, de-
pressed: anterior margin of the mentum crenulate, not
denticulate, mandibles much thinner, less strongly curved,
and less deeply cleft, at their extremity: epistoma less
contracted anteriorly : head narrower, less robust, a little
more contracted behind, with the neck a little longer
and thinner: eyes larger, more proninent, transverse, ap-
proximate beneath: antennce elongate, slender ; the joints
gradually becoming of a more cylindrical form as the ex-
tremity is approached : jomt 3 longer than 2 or 4: 5-10
elongate, subequal: 11 scarcely longer than 10, gradually
attenuated to the apex, which is somewhat obtusely
pointed : prothorax narrow, subcylindrical: scutellwm much
larger: elytra elongate, slender, but little convex, flat-
tened or depressed on the discs, not suddenly declivous
behind, not carinate ; very gradually widened to beyond
the middle, thence gradually contracted to the apex:
epipleural fold subvertical, sinuous—but not arched—
broad at the shoulders or base, then suddenly contracted,
and continuing moderately narrow to the hind extremity :
TRANS. ENT. Soc. 1868.—PaRT Iv. (DECEMBER).
810 Mr. Frederick Bates on
metasternum elongate: epimera of the mesothorax
oblique, triangular, not sublinear; prosternal process
terminating behind in a small, compressed, pointed
tubercle: legs and tarsimuch more slender, the hind tibiz
sinuous.
This genus will form the type of a new section or
‘‘oroup” in the subfamily: distinguished from its allies
by its elongate, slender, and depressed form: its large
transverse eyes, approximate beneath: subcylindrical
prothorax—the pronotum being confounded with its
parapleurz: long, narrow, depressed elytra—not sud-
denly declivous behind; elongate metasternum; and
simple epistoma. From Thomson’s genus LHvelina
(Musée Scientif. p. 22)—which must be nearly related—
it may at once be distinguished by its hexagonal mentum,
large transverse eyes, and triangular intercoxal process.
The Hvaniosomus procerus,* Erichson, (Archiv. 1847, I.
p- 113) has also some points of resemblance to Aryenis,
but the form of the eyes, prothorax, elytra, &c., are
quite distinct.
An example of the present genus stands labelled in the
Lafertéan collection “ Isotoma rufescens,” an insect in-
cluded by Dejean in the old family Trachelides, Lat., and
there is certainly some excuse for so placing it, as in its
head contracted behind into a neck ; its somewhat protu-
berant anterior coxe; large, approximate eyes; and
slim and elegant habit—it is marvellously hke some
species of the genus Statira.
Aryenis rufescens,n. sp. (Pl. XV. fig. 1).
Length 4} to 43 lines; entirely (save the eyes which are
more or less black) of an uniform pale rufous or yellowish
ferruginous, with the palpi a little paler; shining;
mentum rather strongly, but not closely, punctured;
epistoma much produced anteriorly, confounded with the
front; head with the long slender carina, or supra-
orbital ridge, within each eye, as in Hvaniosomus, but
shghter and fainter ; somewhat strongly rugose-punctate
* IT think this species generically distinct from Evaniosomus by its dif-
ferently formed antennex, having joint 3 decidedly longer than 2 or 4: its
non-carinate elytra: the epipleural fold broadest at the shoulders, not
arched nor expanded in the middle; its subelongate metasternum; the
subtriangular form of the epimera of its mesothorax, &c. I propose to
name it Chorasmius. (See Pl. XV. fig. 2).
New Species of Heteromera. alk
between the eyes, the punctures very elongate; neck
and epistoma very sparingly and finely punctate; pro-
thorax long, narrow, subcylindrical, moderately convex ;
squarely truncate at each extremity, with the margins
very finely and slightly reflexed ; somewhat closely—save
down the median line—and evenly punctured, the flanks
more sparingly so; faintly impressed down the median
line, and with two ill-defined depressions at each side, near
the base ; scutum of the mesothorax closely punctured ;
scutellum large, subpentagonal, smooth, thickened at the
sides ; elytra elongate, narrow, flat on the discs, with a
shght callosity on each side of the suture, at the base ;
as broad again as the prothorax at the base, which is
somewhat arcuately emarginate, and thickened ; shoulders
broadly rounded, sinuous at the sides, with the edges,
especially towards the base, reflexed; shghtly widening
behind the middle, thence gradually and somewhat
sinuously contracted to the apex, which is pointed; the
sutural margin slightly raised and thickened; vaguely,
especially at the base, punctate-striate ; the sutural and
marginal strie meeting at the apex of the elytra and
enclosing the remainder ; interstices nearly flat, irregu-
larly punctate; epipleural fold faintly rugulose towards
the base; underside and abdomen very glossy; finely,
but not closely, punctured; legs and antenne rather
strongly punctured, the terminal joints of the latter very
finely pubescent: thighs clavate or incrassate ; tarsi be-
neath fringed with short spinose hairs, with others, scat-
tered and decumbent, above; first joint of the posterior
pair longer than the last.
Hab.—Pampas of the Argentine Republic.
It is just possible the above species may be identical
with the Statyra wiicolor (Blanch. in d’Orbig. Voy.
Amer. merid. p. 199), but his description is too short
and vague to enable me to decide this point; judging
from the figure given in his work (pl. 15, fig. 2), this
species has the prothorax more elongate, and the callosi-
ties at the base of the elytra much less pronounced.
I have recently acquired another species from Peru,
belonging to this group, which will not accord with any
genus yet published ; I hesitate to describe it as I dread
unnecessarily to multiply the number of genera, and
should be glad of assistance, by the loan of specimens
and otherwise, so as to enable me properly, if possible,
to define the limits of the genera in this interesting
group.
312 Mr. Frederick Bates on
Sub.-Fam. TENEBRIONINA.
Gen. GonrapErA, Perty, Del. Anim. Artic. Brasil, p. 62;
Lacord. Genera, v. p. 391.
Goniadera interrupta, n. sp. (Pl. XV. fig. 3).
Length 53 lines:—entirely dull bluish black; legs,
antenne, and undersurface deep shiming black ; labial
palpi bright red, the maxillary and labrum dark casta-
neous: this latter punctured, and with a few longish
hairs ; epistoma also with a few longish hairs, very short,
but little thickened, broadly emarginate in front, and—
together with the head—very coarsely and irregularly
rugose-punctate ; the impression separating it from the
front well marked, broad, smooth in the middle; head
short, transverse, the space behind the eyes much abbre-
viated, so that the hind angle of the eye nearly touches
the furrow separating the head from the neck: this latter
cellulose-punctate above, more strongly so on the middle
than on the sides; antenne rather short, moderately
stout, and setulose, the terminal joints closely punctured,
and—especially the last—pubescent ; jomt 2 very short
and very broad; 3 longer than the following, obconic ;
4-10 sub-cylindrical, becoming very gradually broader ;
11 large, robust, ovoid; prothorax broader than long, but
little convex; the surface rough with irregular, sub-
conical, polished tubercles, and having a few short, scat-
tered, squamose hairs ; anterior margin squarely truncate
in the middle: the dilated sides produced in front, and ,
forming large prominent angles, reflexed and sub-acute ;
sides strongly rounded a little before the middle, thence
contracted in a curve to the base, which has its margin
squarely truncate in the middle, its angles broadly, obli-
quely, and triangularly excised and pointed ; * the at-
tenuated lateral margins rather broad, especially from the
middle to the front, somewhat reflexed, their edges
tuberculate ; scutellum large, gradually arched behind,
rugose-punctate; elytra rather short, convex, rather
strongly declivous behind, broader than the prothorax
at the base, which is slightly but broadly emarginate ;
* In some species of Goniadera the base of the thorax is thus formed,
in others the hind angles are obliquely truncate.
New Species of Heteromera. 313
shoulders somewhat prominent but rounded, gradually
widening to three-fourths their length, thence sinuously
contracted to the apex, which is somewhat acute ; lateral
edges sharp, strongly sinuous, tuberculate on their basal
fourth ; on each elytron arow of variously sized tubercles
down by the suture, extending to the extreme apex, the
tubercles becoming linear-elongate as they approach the
hind extremity ; besides this, there are nine more or less
strongly interrupted, elevated, polished lines or ridges’;
2,4, 6 and 8 being the most continuous; 2 and 6 are
united near the hind extremity, and enclose 3, 4 and 5 ;
1,3,5 and 7 are much broken up, consisting of but
distant elongate tubercles, and row 9, which is submar-
ginal, is much abbreviated at each end, and consists of
small sub-elongate tubercles; the intervals are pitted with
large shallow punctures, much more strongly and closely
so on the epipleurz or inflexed sides of the elytra, and
have a few short scattered squamose hairs, more plenti-
fully distributed at the hind extremity ; the epipleural
fold is strongly sinuous, sub-horizontal in the apical half,
suddenly expanded near the hind extremity, and very
deeply and closely punctured, especially at the base ;
parapleuree, sides of sterna, and sides of abdomen, spar-
ingly impressed with large coarse punctures ; cheeks and
head beneath, coarsely rugose-punctate ; thighs and tibiz
compressed, impunctate, the former attenuated at the
base, and all simple; the fore tibizw are very slightly
curved, somewhat thickened within, close to the apex, in
the form of a broad blunt tooth, and fringed with short
hairs ; the intermediate and hind tibiz are very slightly
sinuous, with the apex of the latter acutely produced
within ; save the anterior (on which two very short spurs
may be detected) the tibie are without spurs; the pro-
sternal process terminates behind in a small compressed
oint.
Hab.—Pebas, in Peru; collected by Mr. Hauxwell.
It is with considerable hesitation (hence the lengthy
description) that I include the above species in the
genus Goniadera, there being a decided tendency in the
penultimate joint of the tarsi to assume the sub-bilobed
form characteristic of the next sub-family—the Hetero-
tarsine: in this respect, as well as in the sub-tuberculate
surface of its prothorax and elytra, the spurless tibie,*
* In the genus Anedus, the tibie, contrary to the statement of
Lacordaire, are all visibly spurred.
314 Mr. Frederick Bates on
the head shortened behind the eyes, and some other
minor points, it considerably approaches the genus
Phymatodes, * and must, I think, be considered as a lnk
connecting the two sub-families. The antennz in this
species have the second joint very strongly transverse ;
the terminal robust, ovoid, and not, as in Phymatodes,
elongate and sub-cylindrical ; the prothorax, moreover,
and the form of the labium and the maxillary palpi are
different from that genus, and more closely resemble the
corresponding parts in Goniadera.
The Goniadera cariosa (Dej. Cat.), judging from an
example so named in the Lafertéan collection, has the
penultimate joint of the tarsi as strongly expanded be-
neath the claw joint as in the genera Ancedus and Ly-
props, and should form the type of a distinct genus fT
of the sub-family Heterotarsine ; the whole group, how-
ever, yet requires a very careful study on a large
number of species, when, probably, it will be found
necessary to erect the species just described into a dis-
tinct genus.
Another new genus, or sub-genus, will be an insect re-
cently received from Mr. Hauxwell from Pebas, in Peru :
it is very closely allied to Phymatodes (having quite
a similar habit), but is at once separable by the re-
markable form of the antenne, which are shorter and
stouter, the joints becoming gradually shorter and
wider ; 6-10 are strongly transverse ; 11 large (but shorter
than in Phymatodes), and strongly bent or arched; 3, 4,
5 are flattened on the under side, and 6-10 are not only
thus flattened, but are concave, or very broadly channelled
along their length, beneath. Only asingle example,a ¢,
of this insect has been received (I have seen another
* In which, also, the penultimate joint of the tarsi only approaches
the sub-bilobed form, and cannot be considered as at all expanded beneath
the claw joint. Mr. Pascoe has proposed ‘(Journ. Linn. Soe., Zool. ix.
142, n.) the name Phymatestes, in lieu of Phymatodes, the latter haying
been pre-occupied.
+ Readily distinguishable from Phymatodes (irrespective of its much
smaller size and different habit) by the character already mentioned, and
by its remarkably slender labial palpi ; the second joint of the maxillary
elongate, slender, and curved at the base; and byits spurred tibie :—from
Phobelius by the latter character, and by its simple hind thighs :—from
Ancedus by the base of its prothorax being squarely truncate, with the angles
simple, and by its jet-black, shining, deeply crenate-striate elytra :—and
from Lyprops (Oligorus, Dej. Cat.) by this last character, as well as by its
transverse prothorax, and short broad elytra. I propose to name the
genus imymone, and purpose soon to describe it in detail.
New Species of Heteromera. 315
species, collected by my brother on the Amazons), which
I propose soon to describe under the name of Gamazus
Hauawellii.
- AMpIaTORIxX, n. g. (Pl. XV. fig. 4).
Closely related to Goniadera, from which it differs in
having the mentwm* shorter, wider, and cordiform ; the
labiwm shorter and broader, with the anterior angles
more strongly rounded ; the mavillary palpi shorter and
stouter, with the second joint broadly and very obliquely
truncate and somewhat angular within, the third shghtly
arcuate and angularly produced at the apex within ;
head, behind the eyes, broader and squarer; epistoma
longer, decidedly and broadly emarginate in front, and
but little thickened ; antenne shorter (not attaining the
length of the prothorax), stouter, the jomts becoming
very gradually wider as they approach the extremity ;
last joint very robust, and broadly rounded at the apex;
prothorae decidedly longer than broad; squarely truncate
at each extremity; moderately rounded at the sides,
which are somewhat sharply crenulate at their edges; a
little contracted in front and behind; the fore angles
forming nearly right angles, the hind obliquely truncate ;
elytra much flatter, and consequently less declivous be-
hind, less expanded behind the middle, a little more
rounded at the shoulders, much less sinuous at the lateral
margins; epipleural fold sub-horizontal ; prosternal process
terminating behind in a small triangular point ; fore and
hind thighs somewhat strongly incrassate, the former
with a small oblique tooth near the base ; the latter with
a broad triangular tooth near the apex; intermediate
thighs compressed, expanding from the base, with a
broad blunt tooth near the extremity ; all the tibize com-
pressed and angular, without visible spurs ; the anterior
arched and acutely produced at the apex within; the
intermediate strongly curved at the base, then ex-
panded, and somewhat sinuous, to the extremity; the
posterior so sharply and strongly curved, or bent, at the
base that they might be said to be hooked, then expanded
and sinuous to the apex, with an irregular row of sharp
* Tn all the species of Goniadera examined by me, the mentwn is con-
vex, a little longer than wide, broadiy emarginate in front, the fore angles
somewhat rounded, the sides strongly rounded anteriorly, and very
strongly contracted at the base; and not, by any means, “‘ quadrangulaire
ou trapéziforme et tronqué en avant,” as given by M. Lacordaire.
TRANS, ENT. Soc. 1868,—PaRT IV. (DECEMBER). Z
316 Mr. Frederick Bates on
teeth along their inner side; first joint of the posterior
tarsi much shorter, relatively, than in Goniadera. The
abdomen is wanting in the only example I possess of
this insect; but, judging from the notch in the posterior
margin of the metasternum, the intercoxal process would
be short, broad, and rounded in front, as in Goniadera.
This insect must be somewhat related to the species
from Java mentioned by M. Lacordaire im his ‘‘ Genera,”
vol. v. p. 392 note, which that author says is a true
Goniadera ; our insect, however, is abundantly distinct
from that genus in its differently formed head, antenne,
and prothorax ; in its much flatter elytra, with the epi-
pleural fold sub-horizontal; and in its peculiarly con-
structed legs. In the form of its maxillary palpi Avdia-
torix very nearly approaches the genus Phymatodes.
Adiatoriz Jansoni, n. sp. (Pl. XV. fig. 4).
Length 8} lines :—elongate, depressed ; upper surface,
antenne, and legs uniformly dark-brown; opaque;
more or less coated with, apparently, a gummy sub-
stance, probably derived from its living in decomposed
woody matter ; underside, as much of it as is left exposed,
deep black, glossy: epistoma pitchy-red, closely and
coarsely punctured: head and prothorax strongly, coarse-
ly, and somewhat reticulately corrugate ; on the latter, the
elevated portions are, here and there, highly polished ;
scutellum elongate, sinuous at the sides, pointed behind,
and with a few large coarse punctures on the disc, the
margins being smooth and polished; on each elytron
are four very fine, sharp, smooth coste or ridges; the
first and fourth uniting near the apex of the elytra, the
second abbreviated behind, the fourth abbreviated in
front, the third mounting to, and turning, the shoulders,
and nearly joining the first and fourth at their junction,
near the hind extremity of the elytra; there is also
another ridge, short and oblique, at each side of the
scutellum ; the intervals are. broad, flat, or slightly
concave ; finely shagreened with minute granules, and
studded with small -punctures, somewhat irregularly
arranged in three rows on each interval; suture elevated,
smooth ; epipleural fold, parapleurz, and sides of sterna
minutely granulose, and with a few scattered punctures,
the first-mentioned being punctured only at the base,
and by a single row down by the outer margin ; legs
New Species. of Heteromera. 317
and antenne covered with large, rounded or oblong
impressions, the narrow elevated lines dividing them
giving to the whole surface a somewhat cellulose appear-
ance ; the antennz hispid.
Hab.—Java.
I dedicate this remarkable insect to my friend H. W.
Janson, Esq.
Fam. CISTELIDA.
Gen. CHROMOM@A.
Pascoe, Journ. Ent. 11. p. 490.
With reference to the note, ante, p. 272, I may remark
that the genus Licymnius is quite distmct from Chro-
momea. IL doubt whether the specimen of Licymnius
foveicollis, from which the description at pp. 271, 272,
was drawn, is a male ; and must wait for other specimens
before I can decide this point.
1. Chromomea Pascoei, n. sp.
3. Length 3} lines; pubescent; labrum, base and
-tip of mandibles, head, prothorax, scutellum, and elytra
deep shining black; the elytra with a longitudinal
yellow stripe, which, curving inwards from the shoulders,
becomes gradually attenuated behind, and dies out be-
fore reaching the apex; eyes prominent; head rather
strongly, and somewhat rugosely, punctured; labrum
sparingly punctured, and with a few long hairs; pro-
thorax elongate, sub-cylindrical, scarcely narrowed in
front, hind angles narrowly rounded; somewhat de-
pressed above, finely and closely punctured ; with the
usual large fovea on the middle of the base, within the
margin ; and another, obscure and smaller, at each side ;
scutellum large, transverse, punctured, broadly rounded
behind ; elytra half as wide again as the prothorax at
the base, which is bisinuate ; flattened above, rounded at
the shoulders, and, from thence, gradually tapered to the
apex, which is narrowly rounded; punctate-striate: the
punctures not approximate; save the sutural one, which
is very strongly impressed, these striz are abbreviated
behind, and gradually die out as they approach the sides
of the elytra; the intervals, save the two nearest the suture,
Zz 2
318 Mr. Frederick Bates on
are flat, and finely but not closely punctured ; lateral
margins reflexed; underside deep shining black, finely
punctured, pubescent ; legs yellow, with the apical half
-of all the thighs, and the base and apex of all the tibiz,
black ; palpi, and three first joints (save the tip of the
third) of the antenne, reddish; tips of the former dusky,
remaining joints of the latter black; tarsi dusky red.
The hind thighs are strongly compressed, and are ex-
panded in the middle within, into a very broad blunt
tooth ; the tibiz are all strongly keeled externally, the
anterior feebly sinuous, the posterior very strongly
sinuous or twisted, completely excavated or channelled,
on their inner side, from near their base, and expanded in
the middle ; these characters, together with the more
projecting eyes, the smaller and narrower form, brighter
colours, sparser pubescence, and the elytra gradually
attenuated behind, are the distinguishing features of the
males in this genus.
The present species may be at once separated from
C. picta (Pascoe, Journ. Ent. 1. 491) by its smaller size,
more prominent eyes, squarer prothorax, finer punctua-
tion, and differently coloured labrum, antennz, legs, and
elytra.
Hab.—Australia (Brisbane) .
I have great pleasure in dedicating this handsome
little species to my friend FI’. P. Pascoe, Esq.
2. Chromomea vittata, n. sp.
é. Length 3? lmes:—very similar in colour, mark-
ings, &c., to the preceding, but the black of the pro-
thorax and elytra is somewhat dusky, and with a slight
greenish tinge; it is also a little larger; the eyes are
less prominent, the head broader, the prothorax shorter,
broader, rounded at the sides, decidedly narrowed an-
teriorly, the hind angles more strongly rounded, and
the punctuation of the whole insect, both above and
on the underside, is coarser.
The ¢ is more pubescent than the ¢ ; the black of
the prothorax and elytra of a duskier hue, and with a
more decided greenish tinge; the eyes less prominent ;
the elytra broader, and gradually expanding to the
middle, with the yellow stripe broader and extending
nearer to the apex; the tibiz are keeled only at the
New Species of Heteromera. 319
base, the fore and intermediate straight, the hind a little
arched only, not sinuous, nor channelled down their inner
side; and the hind thighs are simple.
Hab.—New South Wales, and Brisbane.
It is possible that this species may, ultimately, have
to be united to the preceding ; but the differently formed
prothorax, alike in both sexes, at present compels me to
hold them distinct.
3. Chromomea pallida, n. sp.
3. Length 34 lmes:—finely pubescent; shghtly
shining ; elytra pale greenish-yellow, with the sutural
region, sides and epipleurz, rufescent; head, save the
epistoma which is dark red, and labrum, deep black ;
prothorax, including the flanks, bright reddish-castane-
ous, with an obscure irregular fuscous patch on the disc ;
head somewhat coarsely and rugosely punctured ; pro-
thorax longer than wide; sides sub-parallel, a little
narrowed anteriorly ; hind angles very shghtly rounded ;
very finely and closely punctured ; scutellum rufescent,
large, strongly transverse, very broadly rounded behind ;
elytra scarcely half as wide again as the prothorax at the
base, strongly rounded at the shoulders, punctate-striate,
the punctures somewhat approximate; the striz more
apparent on the sides and at the apex than in the two
preceding species: intervals sub-convex on the disc,
- finely and rather closely punctured; underside glossy ;
sterna black, minutely and rugosely punctate ; parapleurze
dull red; abdomen, save the two basal joints which are
more or less pitchy, bright red ; very minutely punctu-
late ; palpi, mandibles (except the tips, which are black),
and antenne, pale red, the terminal joints of the latter
being more or less dusky black; legs pale yellow, with
a patch near the apex of the thighs, the base and apex
of the tibiz, and the tarsi, dusky black.
The ¢ is larger, 4 lines, of a duller colour above ;
parapleure of a bright red, and the abdomen entirely
red.
Hab.—New South Wales.
At once to be distinguished from the preceding by its
black head, contrasted with its red prothorax, differently
coloured elytra, and bright red abdomen.
320 Mr. Frederick Bates on
4, Chromomea rufescens, n. sp.
9. Length 4% lines:-—shining; sparingly clothed
with a very short, fine pubescence; labrum black; head
and prothorax (flanks included) dark castaneous, with an
obscure line down the centre, and a marginal patch at
each side, black; elytra reddish-brown, with the apex
more or less dusky- -black; head strongly and rugosely
punctured ; prothorax a REE longer than wide, sides
sub-parallel, slightly narrowed in front; closely and
rather finely punctured, at each side of the usual basal fovea
is a small narrow elongate depression, close to the hind
margin; hind angles narrowly rounded ; scutellum trans-
verse, broadly rounded behind ; elytra rather broad, de-
pressed; punctate-striate, the striz a little famter at the
sides, base, and apex ; intervals sub-convex, punctured,
and more or less transversely wrinkled ; body beneath,
save the metasternum which is partly of a bright red,
black; finely pubescent, very glossy ; middle joints of
abdomen bright red, remainder pitchy; antenne red,
the three basal joints being paler; basal half of thighs,
and the tibizw, yellowish-brown ; tips of the latter, and
apical half of the former, red; their tips, and the tarsi,
darker.
The terminal joint of the antenne is smaller than the
preceding, and is somewhat acutely pointed at the apex.
In the two female examples of this species before me,
one has the head darker, the prothorax more obscured
by dusky patches, and more depressed, the sides more
parallel and less contracted in front, and the basal callo-
sities of the elytra much less pronounced, than in the
other. I do not know the male. The larger size, and
nearly uniform reddish-brown colour, will serve to dis-
tinguish this species from any of the foregoing.
Hab.—New South Wales.
5. Chromomeea unicolor, n. sp.
9. Length 3} lmes:—entirely black, with a slight
brassy tinge; shining; clothed with a rather long
ashy pubescence ; somewhat strongly depressed ; head
rather narrow, strongly punctured ; the punctures, be-
hind the eyes, elongate ; prothorax a little longer than
broad ; sides sub-parallel, shghtly contracted anteriorly ;
hind angles scarcely, or very narrowly, rounded ;
strongly punctured, the punctures large and rounded ;
New Species of Heteromera. 321
scutellum broadly rounded behind, punctured; elytra
strongly bisinuate at the base; with a somewhat deep
depression behind the basal callosities ; punctate-striate,
the punctures rather large; very strongly and trans- —
versely wrinkled, and irregularly punctured, on the inter-
vals ; underside black without any brassy tinge ; densely
pubescent ; densely and strongly punctured ; abdomen
closely and transversely rugose-punctate ; organs of the
mouth, and legs, pitchy black; the tarsi a little paler ;
antenne, save the second joint which is red, black.
Hab.—South Australia.
I have not seen the male of this species, which is
very distinct from all the others by its colour, and the
strongly wrinkled surface of its elytra.
Fam. LAGRITDAS.
XenosteTuus, nu. g. (Pl. XV. fig. 5).
Male :—sub-mentum pedunculate* (7. e. rismg consi-
derably above the level of the bottom of the maxillary
sinus), broadly arched in front ; mentwm strongly trans-
verse, convex, arcuately emarginate in front, fore
angles somewhat pointed, sides rounded before the
middle, thence contracted to the base ; sparsely clothed
with a few long suberect hairs ; /abiwm very prominent,
transverse, its paraglosse (?) enormously developed
(overlapping the ligula, which they nearly conceal),
more or less closely united at their inner margins, and
forming, thus conjoined, a transverse sub-triangular
body, its sides incurved with the margins broadly re-
flexed, its apex more or less pointed and furnished with
a tuft of hairs; the ligula being visible only at the base
and through a narrow triangular cleft in the junction of
the paraglosse (?) behind; labial palpi short, somewhat
robust; last jot short, strongly curved outwardly, the
apex broadly and somewhat obliquely truncate ; inner
lobe of maailla rather small, foliaceous, clothed with
longish hairs; the outer lobe masked by a large plate,
which is oblique, of an oblong form, broad and rounded
* M. Lacordaire in his definition of the family, says :—‘‘ Menton
non porté par un pédoncule du sous-menton ;” this is certainly an error,
for, in the whole of the genera, the sub-mentum is more or less pedun-
culate; in the genus Statira it is even more strongly so than in Xeno-
stethus. -
322 Mr. Frederick Bates on
in front, and gradually tapering behind ;* mazillary
palpi very long, hairy, last jot elongate, cultriform ;
mandibles thin, rather strongly curved near their ex-
tremity ; bifid at the end, the prongs of unequal length,
sharp and pointed ; labrum transverse, strongly notched
in front, fore angles broadly rounded, thence rather
sharply contracted to the base ; attached to the epistoma
by asemicorneous hinge ; head rounded behind the eyes,
then suddenly contracted into a rather long cylindrical
neck ; cheeks prominent ; epistoma short, broadly trun-
cate and sub-sinuous in front, sides sub-parallel, or
slightly widening behind, separated from the front by a
well-marked transverse impression ; eyes large, promi-
nent, transverse, approximate above, narrowed below,
hind margins sinuous, slightly notched in front for the
reception of the antennary auricles (= “‘oreillettes anten-
naires,” Lacord.), the latter small and narrow (leaving
the globular roots of the antenne exposed) but very
prominent ; antennce long, slender; joint 1 elongate,
thickening to the extremity ; 2 short; 3 more than twice
the length of 2, and, like it, a little swollen at the end ;
4-10 elongate, sub-equal, sub-cylindrical, or shghtly
thickened at their extremity; 11 more than twice the
length of 10, cylindrical, the apex pointed ; joints 1-3
are smooth and nearly hairless, the remamder are
minutely rugose-punctate, and more or less clothed with
short decumbent hairs: prothorax globoso-oval, its pro-
notum confounded with its flanks, but with all the angles
apparent, distant from the elytra, notably prolonged be-
hind the insertion of the anterior coxee; faintly bisinuate
and finely margined in front; constricted behind near
the base, which becomes suddenly and obliquely widened,
hind margin somewhat thickened or raised, and strongly
bisinuate ; scutellum elongate, narrow, sinuous at the
sides; entire, and gradually arched, behind; elytra
elongate, narrow, sub-cylindrical; half as wide again as
the prothorax at the base, which is truncate ; sub-parallel,
the shoulders distinct, rounded; contracted near the
hind extremity, with the apex rounded, or obliquely
truncate, and with a small spine or tooth at the sutural
angle; epipleural fold narrow, sinuous, a little expanded
* What appears to be the lobe proper (densely clothed with short hairs
at its summit) is found soldered to the under surface of this plate, and is
more or less enfolded by an inner expansion of it ; no mere description,
however, can convey a correct idea of the curious oral organs of this in-
sect ; the details given on the plate, where they are shown in situ, and
dissected out, on both their faces, will best illustrate them.
New Species of Heteromera. 323
near the base, gradually narrowing towards the extremity
of the elytra behind ; legslong ; the three pairs nearly equi-
distant (in consequence of the prolongation of the pro-
thorax behind its acetabula) ; fore and hind thighs very
strongly incrassate, the former curved, and with a
broad blunt tooth near their extremity within ; tibize of
the same pairs rather strongly arched, expanded, broadly
excavated, and partly fringed with long hairs within ;
the anterior are also thickened at their extremity ; inter-
mediate thighs comparatively slender, slightly thick-
ening from their base to near their extremity ; the inter-
mediate tibie are a little curved, and slightly excavated
within, at their basal half; the hind and intermediate
tibie are also armed with a short curved spur; tarsi
furnished with a brush of short hairs beneath, and with
a few longer hairs on their sides and above; the penulti-
. mate joint of all sub-bilobate ; the first of the posterior
nearly as long the following united; fore and intermediate
coxee more or less clothed with long shaggy hairs; the
posterior transverse, oblique; the anterior moderately
long, somewhat narrowly separated by the prosternal
process ; prosternum broadly concave in front, its process
between the coxe is narrow, very prominent, canalicu-
late, with the margin, at each side, raised into a long
obtuse tooth ; it is abruptly bent down behind the coxe,
then suddenly widened, plain, the hind extremity more
or less strongly hooked, the apex being obtusely poimted ;
mesosternum horizontal, broadly hollowed out in front
in form of an open V ; metasternum elongate, its epis-
terna sub-parallel, smuous at the sides; intercowal process
long, narrowly triangular, the apex pointed ; abdomen
5-jointed, the last jomt arcuately truncate at each side
at the apex, leaving a short broad triangular projection
in the centre ; body winged.
Female :—differs from the male in having the eyes a
little less prominent, less approximate above ; the pro-
thorax shorter, less globose, broader in front and behind ;
the scutellum not sinuous at the sides, and notched be-
hind ; the elytra not so parallel, a little expanded behind
the middle, the apex pointed (but still having the tooth
at the sutural angle, as in the ¢) ; the epiplewral fold
broadly continued to the hind extremity: the fore and
hind thighs straight, less strongly incrassate, simple ;
the tibiz (of the same pairs) sinuous, not arched, and
neither expanded nor excavated within; intermediate
B24 Mr. Frederick Bates on
tibie straight, entire; the first jomt of the posterior
tarsi a little less elongate; the fore and intermediate
coxe smooth, or with but a few short imconspicuous
hairs; the prosternal process not toothed at each side
between the cox, nor hooked at the hind extremity ;
the abdomen 5-jointed as in the 6, the last jomt is not
truncate, but has a small semicircular notch at its ex-
treme apex.
The antenne are imperfect in all the female examples
I have of this insect; but judging from the portion re-
maining, I should say they do not materially differ from
the 3, unless, it may be, in the terminal joint.
The submentum (=“‘piéce prébasalaire” of Du Val,
Gen. des Coléop. Introd.) is well defined in this genus,
being marked out from the rest of the undersurface of the
head by a deeply impressed line or suture. I cannot find
any trace of spurs to the anterior tibiz in either sex.
Of the genera yet published Xenostethus is most nearly
related to Statira, with which it has many points of struc-
ture incommon ; but in the peculiar form ofits oral organs,
and in the remarkable prolongation of the prothorax
behind the acetabula, it cannot, so far as my knowledge
extends, claim relationship with any other described
genus of Heteromera. 'The marked protuberance of the
anterior coxe and parts adjacent, with their acetabula
broadly closed behind; the elongate terminal joint of the
antenne ; the head contracted behind into a long neck ;
and the form of the tarsi, are the chief characters which
lead me to place the genus, provisionally at least, in the
family Lagrude; ultimately, perhaps, its many special
peculiarities may be considered of sufficient value to
entitle it to rank in a less subordinate position; the
family, however, already contains some very peculiar
forms.
Xcnostethus Lacordairii, n. sp: (Plo XVotewoye
3d. Length 7#-83 lines:—-elongate; narrow; shining ;
elytra clear bright green, or olive green, sometimes with
the sides purplish coppery; /ead and prothorax deep
shining black; the former more or less convex and
smooth on the crown; front flattened or depressed, un-
even, sparingly punctured ; epistoma and labrum smooth,
the latter having some long hairs above and fringing the
New Species of Heteromera. 325
anterior border ; mentum coarsely rugose-punctate ; a few
large rounded punctures behind the eyes and on the
cheeks; neck finely and sparingly punctured ; prothoraz,
including the flanks, strongly punctured, the punctures
large and rounded, more sparingly distributed on the
disc, more crowded on the sides; longer than broad,
very convex or globose; strongly rounded on the sides
to the constriction behind, thence rapidly expanding to
the hind angles ; not impressed down the median lne;
an oblong fovea or depression on the middle of the base,
within the margin ; scutellwm black, smooth; elytra elon-
gate, sides nearly parallel, and feebly smuous; punctate-
striate ; the punctures rather large, deep, rounded and
approximate ; the intervals convex and smooth; meso-
and meta-pleure and sides of metasternum punctured,
the punctures large and rounded: metasternum strongly
depressed in the middle, and, together with the abdomen,
transversely wrinkled and sparsely clothed with long hairs:
body beneath, legs, palpi, labrum, and three first joints of
antenne pitchy-black, shining; remaining joimts of the
latter reddish-brown.
Q. Length 74; — 8 lines:—differs from the ¢ in
haying the head more densely and coarsely punctured
behind the eyes: the prothorax shorter, less convex, less
rounded at the sides, wider in front and behind, faintly
impressed down the median line, without the depression
in the middle of the base; elytra less parallel at the sides,
a little expanded behind the middle: metasternum and
abdomen smooth, not transversely wrinkled, and hairless ;
the former convex, not depressed in the middle.
Hab.—Sherboro Island: West Coast of Africa.
I dedicate this most peculiar insect to the illustrious
author of the ‘‘Genera des Coléopteres.”
Family RHIPIPHORIDAL.
Gen. Acosmvs.
(Dej. Cat. p. 239) ; Lacord. Genera, v. p. 625, note.
Judging from an example in the Lafertéan Collection
labelled “ Acosmus capensis, Dej.,” this species is certain-
ly identical with the Geoscopus murinus, Gerstiick. Monog.
Rhipiphor. pp. 7, 8, plate, fig. 2. a. b. c.
326 ; Mr. F. Bates on Heteromera.
Hauplanation of Plate XV.
ae
Fig. 1. Avryenis rufescens, (a, b).
Chorasmius procerus, (a).
Goniadera interrupta, (a, b, c).
Adiatoria Jansoni, (a, b, ¢).
oes GOSS)
Xenostethus Lacordairii, §; (a, antenna; b, head, underside ;
c, mentum, labium, &c.; d, back view of paraglosse ? ;
e, inner face of maxilla, &c.; f, outer face of maxilla, &c. ;
g, last abdominal joint in 2; h, last abdominal joint in ¢).
Goniadera repanda, (a, b, c,).
Goniadera, sp., (a, b, c).
Phymatodes tuberculatus, § . (a, b, c).
Oo PAs
Phymatodes, sp., 3, (a, 0, c).
Additional Explanation of Plate XII.
———_>__-_—
The following figures were added to this Plate after the explanation
(ante, p. 274) was printed :—
Fig. 1*. Hypaulaw marginata, head and prothorax, upperside; 1e*, un-
derside. (Ante, p. 261.)
8. Dechius scissicollis, g ?. (Ante, p. 266.)
8*, Dechius scissicollis, hind tibia, enlarged.
( 327 )
XVIII. Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Ex-
otic Hymenoptera. By J. O. Westwoop, M.A.,
F.L.S., &e.
[ Read 16th November and 7th December, 1868. ]
Genus Triconatys, Westw.
1. Trigonalys pulchella, nv. sp.
Minuta; castanea, flavo et nigro variegata; alis lim-
pidis, nubila fuscescente subapicali ; antennis obscure
fulvis.
Long. corp. lin. 34; expans. alar. lin. 6.
Habitat in Insula Ceylon. Dom. Thwaites. In Mus.
Hopeiano, Oxonie (olim nostro).
Species perelegans. Caput castaneum, clypeo, orbitu
oculorum, maculis tribus verticalibus lineolisque nonnullis
posticis flavis. Thorax castaneus; marginibus superis
collaris, maculis duabus conicis anticis mesonoti, alteris
duabus ad latera scutelli, post-scutelli linea tenui trans-
versa, maculisque duabus magnis posticis metanoti, flavis.
Abdomen segmentis dorsalibus basi nigris, apice castaneis,
Imo et 2do macula magna communi ovata, hujus etiam
margine lato postico, flavis; segmentis apicalibus flavis,
linea longitudinali media castanea ; segmentis ventralibus
inermibus.
2. Trigonalys jucunda, n. sp.
Rufo-fusco et flavo varia, minute punctatissima; alis
hyalinis, anticarum dimidio costali fusco; pedibus
rufis, tibiis basi albidis ; antennis fuscis, basi fulvis.
Long. corp. lin. 43; expans. alar. antic. lin. 10.
Habitat in Amazonia. Dom. Bates. In Mus. Hopeia-
no, Oxonie.
Caput flavum, vertice late castaneo, nigro cincto ; an-
tenne long, 24-articulate, apice gracillime, articulis
8 basalibus fulvo-rufis, apice fuscee. Thorax castaneo-ru-
fus; collaris lateribus, maculis duabus anticis mesonoti,
alteris duabus ad basin scutelli, post-scutello, et maculis
duabus ad apicem metanoti, flavis; scutello nigricante.
Abdomen ad basin castaneum, ad apicem nigricans, seg-
mentorum margine apicali flavo, segmentis ventralibus in
medio inermibus.
TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1868.—PaRT Iv. (DECEMBER).
328 Prof. Westwood on
3. Trigonalys lugubris, n. sp.
Nigra, punctatissima, flavo varia; alis anticis margine
costali fusco suffuso.
Long. corp. lin. 45; expans. alar. antic. lin. 9.
Habitat in Amazonia. Dom. Bates. In Mus. Hopeia-
no, Oxonie.
Caput nigrum ; clypeo, macula parva ad marginem an-
ticum oculorum, alterisque duabus suborbitalibus, mandi-
bulisque flavis, harum dentibus nigris ; antenne nigre,
27-articulate. Thorax niger, collaris margine supero,
punctis duobus anticis mesonoti, alterisque duobus minu-
tis ad latera scutelli, post-scutelli lmea tenui in medio
emarginata, flavis. Abdomen segmentis postice flavo
tenue marginatis ; infrain medio profunde incisis. Alze
hyaline, margine costali fusco pone stigma magis suffuso.
Pedes nigri, tibiis extus albidis.
Nomapina, n. g.
Genus novum, e sectione Terebrantium ; Trigonalyde
proximum, Nomadam (Apidwm) quodammodo simu-
lans.
Corpus breve robustum. Caput transversum, lobo
transverso antico, in quo insident antenne, thorace bre-
viores, sat crasse, 16-articulate, articulo lmo_ brevi.
Ocelli 8, parvi; mandibulee late, subquadrate, fere plane,
4-dentatee ; relique oris partes fere obsolete; palpi la-
biales brevissimi, subconici. Thorax ovatus, collari supra
inconspicuo. Pedes breves, robusti, simplices, unguibus
bifidis. Ale antic cellula una marginali, 4 submarginali-
bus; lma magna accepit venam lam recurrentem, 2da
parva trigona, dtia parva quadrata accepit venam 2dam
recurrentem ; cellulis 3 discoidalibus. Abdomen thorace
paullo majus, depressum, sub-spatulatum ; segmento 3tio
ventrali in tuberculo medio conico elevato, 4to imciso.
Nomadina Smithii, n. sp.
Lutea, fusco varia; capite maculis 4 parvis imter et
pone oculos; thorace linea media ad post-scutellum
extensa, maculisque duabus oblongis mesothoracis,
fuscis ; margine postico segmentorum abdominalium
albido; alis concoloribus, stigmate venisque casta-
nels.
Long. corp. lin 5; expans. alar. antic. lm. 103.
Habitat in Amazonia. Dom. Bates. In Mus. Smith.
New Species of Hymenoptera. 329
SIBYLLINA, 1. g.
Genus novum Aculeatorum, quoad affinitates animum
excrucians, sed ad familiam Vespidarum ut mihi
videtur magis approximans. Corpus elongatum,
Belonogastri (Vespidarum) vel Pelopei (Sphegida-
rum) habitu, ¢ etiam Formicarum nonnullarum
antennis elongatis, non dissimile.
Caput mediocre. Oculi reniformes. Ocelli magni.
Mandibule parve, 3-dentate. Antenne ¢ graciles, fili-
formes, alis longiores, 12-articulate, non geniculate, arti-
culo Imo parvo. Palpi valde elongati, 6-4-articulati.
Labium, ut videtur, 3-lobatum. Thorax elongato-ovatus,
collare brevi, lateraliter ad tegulas extenso, in medio sub-
tus profundeimpresso. Petiolus abdominis thorace longior.
Abdomen elongato-ovatum. Pedes longi, graciles, haud
spinoso-denticulati; tarsis omnibus elongatis, mem-
branaceo-dilatatis ; unguibus dente medio subtus arma-
tis. Alze mediocres ; antice haud longitudinaliter-plicate ;
cellula una marginali, 3 submarginalibus, lma et 2da
equalibus, 2da accepit venam lam recurrentem valde
obliquam in medio marginis postici; 2da recurrente, valde
indistincta, cellulam 38am discoidalem claudente, trans-
versa, et apicem cellule 2dze attingente ; ale postice ad
apicem venee pobrachialis incise.
Sibyllina ceenigmatica, n. sp.
Tota luteo-fulva ; levis, vix nitida; alis lutescente vix
tinctis. Ophioni luteo coloribus similis.
Long. corp. unc. }; expans. alar. antic. unc. 3.
Habitat in Insula St. Dominici, Hayti. Dom. Tweedy.
In Mus. Hopeiano, Oxonie; Britann.; et Dom. Smith.
Genus Auvnacus, Jurine.
The following descriptions of new species are supple-
mental to those published by me in the Third Volume of
the First Series of these Transactions (p. 260), and the
First Volume of the Second Series (p. 222).
1. Aulacus nobilis, n. sp.
Niger, nitidus ; mesonoto valde gibboso, retuso, rugoso,
et antice tuberculis duobus conicis porrectis armato,
330 Prof. Westwood on
supra rufo-fulvo; alis fuscis, violaceo-micantibus, stig-
mate nigro, omnibus macula trigona, paullo ante me-
dium, fasciaque lata substigmatico, hyalinis. Abdomine
brevi clavato; oviductu abdomine paullo longiori, valvulis
nigris. 2.
Long. corp. lin. 6; expans. alar. lin. 11.
Habitat im Amazonia. (Dom. Bates). In Mus. Ho-
peiano, Oxonie.
2. Aulacus formosus, n. sp.
Elongatus, lete flavus, nigro variegatus; alis subhya-
linis, stigmate nigro, nubilaque apicali anticarum infuma-
tis ; capitis vertice nigro, lineis (vel punctis) duabus flavis ;
mesonoto transverse striatulo, macula trigona antica,
alterisque duabus dorsalibus, scutello et metanoto macu-
lis parvis nigris notatis ; abdomine flavo, basi et fascns
Nigris ; pedibus flavis, posticorum duorum trochanteribus,
basi et apice tibiarum, tarsisque nigris: oviductus val-
vulis nigris. ¢ et @.
‘Long. corp., ¢ lin. 6; 92 lin. 7; expans. alar. antic.
a peMlitaky Gor 2 lin. 14.
Habitat im Australia australiori (Melbourne, Dom.
Bakewell).
In Muss. Hopeiano, Oxoniz (olim nostro) et Britann.
(cum nomine M.S. Smithiano supra usitato scriptus) .
3. Aulacus stigmaticus, n. sp.
Niger; capite antice et lateribus thoracis griseo seri-
genome abdomine longo, compresso ; pedunculo fere
dimidium longitudinis abdominis cequante nigro, seg-
mentis 2 proximis obscure fulvis, dorso nigro-fasciatis ;
alis hyalinis, anticis costa flavescente, macula magna ro-
tundata nigra cum stigmate connexa ; antennis nigris,
articulis 2 basalibus fulvis : pedibus obscure luteo-albidis,
posticis duobus obscurioribus: venis alarum posticarum
fere obsoletis. @.
Long. corp. lin. 5} ; expans. alar. antic. lin. 8$.
Habitat apud Singapore. (Dom. Wallace). In Mus.
Smith.
4. Aulacus rufitarsis, n. sp.
Niger, capite subopaco, thorace striolato; abdomine
subelongato, nitido,sensim subclavato: antennis et palpis
New Species of Hymenoptera. 331
nigris: alis obscure hyalinis, stigmate nigro, apice fus-
cescente, vena cellulam 2am submarginalem claudente
fere obliterata; pedibus nigris, tibiis quatuor anticis
tarsisque omnibus rufescentibus; oviductu abdomine
plus dimidio longiori, valvulis nigris. ?.
Long. corp. lin. 6; expans. alar. antic. lin. 11.
Habitat in Terra Van Diemenii. (Dom. Cuming). In
Mus. Hopeiano, Oxonie.
5. Aulacus hemorrhoidellus, n. sp.
A. hemorrhoidali (Westw. Tr. Ent. Soc. ser. 2, i. 223)
magnitudine et habitu simillimus. Differt spima parva
porrecta utrinque ad angulum antico-inferum collaris,
pedibus nigris, et oviductus valvulis late albo-fasciatis. @ .
Long. corp. lin. 6; expans. alar. antic. lin. 94.
Habitat in Amazonia. (Dom. Bates). In Mus. Ho-
peiano, Oxonie.
6. Aulacus spinifer, n. s.
A. hemorrhoidali proximus. Differt antennis omnino
nigris; mesonoto supra obscure testaceo, areolato, antice
bicornuto ; margine antico angusto nigro collaris etiam
spinis 4 antice -porrectis armato: scutello et metanoto
nigris, rugosis: abdomine clavato, dimidio apicali tes-
taceo: alis hyalinis, stigmate nigro, nubila apicali fusces-
cente; oviductus valvulis nigris ; pedibus 4 anticis luteis,
tarsis apice obscuris, 2 posticis nigris.
Long. corp. lin. 63; expans. alar. antic. lin. 84.
Habitatin Amazonia, (Dom. Bates). In Mus. Hopeiano,
Oxonie.
(Aulacinus, subg. nov.)
7. Aulacus (Aulacinus) meerens, n. sp.
Brevis, subopacus ; niger ; capite subgloboso, antennis
brevibus, fulvis, articulis 2 basalibus et 2 apicalibus nigri-
cantibus; thorace brevi-ovato, antice subretuso, striatulo;
alis subhyalinis, stigmate et venis nigris, cellulis 4 sub-
marginalibus distinctis, 2da late trigona, apice supra
truncato, 3dtia subquadrata, vena cellulam 2dam claudente
| TRANS. ENT. soc. 1868.—pPaRT IV. (DECEMBER). A A
332 Prof. Westwood on New Species of Hymenoptera.
cum vena secunda recurrente continua; venis alarum
posticarum obsoletis; pedibus nigris, tibiis (nisi apice
posticarum) tarsisque brunneis: abdomine brevi, cla-
vato ; oviductu abdomine breviori; valvulis nigris. ?.
Long. corp. lin. 54; expans. alar. antic. lin. 83.
Habitat apud Adelaidam, Australie. In Mus. Ho-
peiano, Oxonie.
The variation in the veins of the wings has rendered it
necessary to propose a separate subgenus for this species.
A THE
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
FOR THE YEAR
1868.
February 3, 1868.
H. W. Barss, Esq., F.Z.S., President, in the chair.
The President, after thanking the Society for the honour conferred upon him by his
election to the chair, nominated as Vice-Presidents, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. W.
Wilson Saunders, and Mr. Stainton.
Donations to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the~ donors :—
‘ Proceedings of the Royal Society, Nos. 93—97 ; presented by the Society. ‘ Abhand-
lungen herausgegeben vom naturwiss. Vereine zu Bremen, vol. i. part 2; by the
Society. ‘Coleoptera Hesperidum, being an Enumeration of the Coleopterous Insects
of the Cape Verde Archipelago, by T. V. Wollaston; by the Author. Newman’s
‘British Moths, No. 14; by the Author. ‘The Zoologist’ for February; by the
Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine’ for February; by the Editors.
Exhibitions, §c.
Mr. Bond exhibited a female specimen of Drilus flavescens, the second specimen
of that sex, he believed, which had been found in this country. On the Ist of April,
1867, Mr. J. E. Harting was collecting shells on the South Downs at Harting, Sussex,
and the Drilus was discovered in a shell of Helix ericetorum. The larva has for some
time been known to live in snail shells (see Proc. Ent. Soc. 1858, p. 9), and Mr. Bond
suggested that the female had been hatched in the shell in which it was discovered,
and had never quitted it until disturbed by Mr. Harting.
Mr. Bond exhibited larva-skins of a species of Dermestes, which he was at first
informed had not only destroyed the bladder-coverings of sixty pots of preserved fruits,
but had also eaten a considerable portion of the contents; but on further inquiry it
turned out the larve had not in this case eaten any of the fruit, but merely damaged
the surface, which was covered with larva-skins and “ what appeared to be powder or
small eggs.” Mr. Newman, however, had informed Mr. Bond that a city house had
recently sustained great loss from the same insect: in this instance the pots of jam
were covered with paper only, not with skin, and the larve had actually consumed part
of the contents, and rendered the whole worthless,
B
ii
Mr. M‘Lachlan had found quantities of a Dermestes larva in the timbers of a ship,
upon which they had fed. Mr. F. Smith had reared Dermestes from timber; and
Mr. Janson had often noticed that the larve would forsake hides and take refuge in
the wooden flooring of a building, but this was probably for pupation, not for
sustenance.
Mr. Daniel Hanbury communicated a letter from Dr. Bidie, of the Madras Army,
respecting the “coffee-borer” of Southern India (see Proc. Ent. Soc. 1867, p. cix);
and Mr. F. Smith mentioned that in Chevrolat’s collection in the British Museum
there was a single specimen, labelled Xylotrechus quadripes, which seemed to be
identical with the insect recently received from India.
With reference to Mr. Stainton’s larva of a Tinea found feeding in an antelope’s
horn (Proc. Ent. Soc. 1867, p. cv.), Mr. Bond mentioned that a similar case was
recorded by Mr. Haliday in the Proc. Dublin Univ. Zool. Soc. 1855: see Dublin
Nat. Hist. Review, vol. iii. p. 23, pl. i.
Mr. Bond also exhibited a specimen of Bombyx quercus, in which the colours of
the male and female were combined.
Dr. Wallace exhibited two British-born specimens of the Japanese oak-feeding
Bombyx Yamamai, one reared by Mr. Gascoyne at Newark, the other by Mr.
Shoolbred at Wolverhampton; and some eggs laid by Mr. Gascoyne’s specimen. Also
specimens of Bombyx Pernyi, a Chinese oak-feeding species, which he hoped would
be naturalized in this country. Also, an imago and cocoon of Pachypusa effusa from
Graham’s Town, an acacia-feeder, from which an attempt was being made in South
Africa to obtain silk, though the nature of the cocoon gave little promise of a favour-
able result. Dr. Wallace made some observations on the progress of sericiculture, as
well of mulberry silk as of Ailanthus silk, at the Cape of Good Hope and in Australia ;
and expressed his opinion that, although he found the air of the Eastern Counties of
England too dry for Bombyx Yamamai, that species would probably succeed better in
the cool and moist climates of Ireland or Scotland.
Dr. Gray communicated the following extract from a letter received by him from
Dr. George Bennett, dated “ Sydney, 21 October, 1867” :—
“We have had, since the 14th of September, a wonderful flight of moths in Sydney
and the vicinity, extending inland fourteen to twenty-five miles, and along the coast
in clouds, from Newcastle seventy-five miles north, to Kiama eighty-eight miles south
of Sydney: in those places they have swarmed in legions, proving a perfect pest.
They are of the family Noctuide, and you may recollect that in my ‘ Wanderings
in New South Wales’ vol. i. p. 265, I mentioned a moth of the genus Agrotis,
probably A. spina, which congregates in November, December and January, about
masses of granite on the Bugong range of mountains. The moth of which this year
we have such multitudes is, I consider, of the same genus as the Bugong, and isa
large dark-coloured insect, very prettily marked; whether a new species I will leave
you to determine: it is recognized by the colonists as a well-known visitor, but rarely
in such multitudes and never to so wide an extent as during this time. Every house
and public building is infested with them, clinging in swarms to the corners, behind
shutters, or in any hollow space where they can congregate: this occurs to a greater
extent in the suburbs than in the city. On the first morning following their arrival
they occasioned great alarm and annoyance, for on opening the shutters the servants
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were saluted by a copious shower of these strong-winged insects, which had crowded
on every part of the rooms and verandah, flying in legions in their faces with a
whirring noise, and at the same time covering them with a quantity of dust or moth-
feathers. During the first few days of the plague, some persons had to call in the
assistance of their neighbours to help to clear away the hosts of these insects that had
congregated in their dwellings. They filled the church at Kiama, and for a time
prevented the performance of divine service; and how they behaved in the church at
St. Leonards, on the north shore of Port Jackson, has been described by the Rev. W.
B. Clarke. It is difficult to form an opinion whence the moths came: on the doors
and windows being left open, the rooms were soon filled with multitudes, and what
with the “ dust-feathers” and a white fluid ejected by them, they stained and injured
the curtains and coverings of the furniture. About dusk they might be observed flying
high and always with great rapidity, and then spreading about would alight on the
flowers, always selecting the sweetest, and on these they might be seen in crowds
sucking the blossoms, and so busily engaged as to be readily captured. Although
generally seen about dusk, yet I observed a few days since a number of them
crowding on the flowers of the orange and lemon trees early in the afternoon, and they
rose in multitudes when disturbed. All I have examined are males, and although
caught in various lvealities not a single fertile female has yet been discovered. It has
been stated that a similar visitation took place in the vicinity of Sydney in 1855, but
I do not recollect their swarming so generally, or to so great an extent or in such
legions, as on the present occasion. In the ‘ Newcastle Chronicle’ it is mentioned that
Captain Twiss, of the brigantine ‘ Express,’ which arrived in port on the 9th of
October, reports that ‘on the 7th of October, being 300 miles away from the coast of
New South Wales, he observed a great number of moths in the sea; on the 8th, being
moderately calm, the sea was literally covered with moths.’ Captain Twiss was of
opinion that they had been blown from the shore, but from observations on land they
appeared to come from the sea in the teeth of a westerly gale.”
The following is the account given by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, dated “ St. Leonards,
10th October, 1867,” and referred to in Dr. Bennett’s letter: —
“On the 22nd of December, 1851, I camped on a thick bed of snow, just under the
summit of the Mount Kosciusco range in the Australian Alps, at a height of between
six and seven thousand feet, or more than a mile and a quarter above the sea. The
only fuel we could obtain was from the belt of old withered dwarf gum scrub, that
appears just at the snow line; our fire, therefore, was very small. About sundown an
immense flight of moths came down from the granite peaks and nearly extinguished
the fire. My attention being attracted to them by this circumstance, and my memory
supplying the fact, that Dr. Bennett had, years before, described the moths that he
saw on the Bugong Mountain, on the Upper Tumut River, I secured a specimen,
which I find by comparison to be identical in species with the Agrotis that is now
infesting this vicinity. It is for the sake of identification that I allude to the year
1851. On the 7th of October, 1855, St. Thomas’ Church (North Shore) was visited by
a great flight, which much disturbed the congregation on that day and the following
Sunday, 14th October. The invaders were got rid of with great difficulty, and at some
cost to the parish, on account of the injury done to the church furniture. On the 7th
and 14th of October, 1866 (just eleven years afterwards) a similar visitation took place,
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attended by similar results; though the moths were not quite so numerous as in 18595.
The moths appeared in church this year on the 14th of September, and from that date
to this have gone on increasing in numbers, until several bushels have been destroyed,
though, apparently, without much diminishing the army. The state of the church was
such on Sunday last (6th October) from the accumulated dust (moth-feathers), and the
incessant swarms that were continually flying through the building, that divine
service could not be held therein. More than seven days’ hard labour in endeavouring
to subdue them had been spent in vain; and since then, applications of the strongest
ammonia, sulphur smoke, and other contrivances used for hours, have failed to drive
them away, for as fast as one swarm is partly destroyed another succeeds. There are
so many operiings in the building that cannot be closed, and so many lodgments out-
side, that no smothering contrivance has succeeded; and as the trees and ground are
full of them, the moths, if driven away for a time, muster again and return. This
morning I made an attempt to reckon up the numbers grouped together on the
windows, and I counted more than 80,000. In the tower and below the floor, and
hidden behind the skirting, there are probably many millions. An opinien has been
published, that these moths came in from the sea. A flight fully a mile in length,
very thick and broad, was certainly seen on the evening of the 20th of September,
travelling from the direction of the Heads along the North Shore; and another similar
flight was seen at Neweastle, probably both directed by a N.E. wind, which would in
the latter case have, perhaps, blown them from the projecting land about Port
Stephens, and so they might have crossed the water. The sands of the sea have been
known in former years to be bordered by a thick band of dead moths, doubtless blown
in from the land, drowned, and washed ashore. I am told that a vessel, yesterday,
twenty miles from land, was covered by them. My own observations, specially on the
22nd of December, 1851, lead me to believe that if they have migrated from a distance
they have come from the west and south-west, especially as their first appearance this
year was with a west wind. And it must be remembered, that previous visitations
have probably left eggs enough to acconnt fur the present multitudes within less
distance than that from Sydney to Mount Kosciusco.” —
Mr. F. Smith exhibited the moths forwarded by Dr. Bennett to Dr. Gray. They
did not appear to differ from the “ Bugong moth,” Agrotis spina of Guénée. With
reference to Dr. Bennett’s remark that males only had been found, it may be observed
that the box forwarded by him contained about an equal number of male and female
specimens. Both sexes also have been described, in a paper read before the
Entomological Society of New South Wales, by Mr. A. W. Scott, who applies to the
insect the name of Agrotis vastator. The following is an extract from Mr. Scott’s
paper:—
“ The caterpillar of this moth is fleshy, little attenuated at each extremity, sub-
vermiform in appearance, and of a livid colour, varying much in shade, with the
anterior segment furnished with a horny plate. It measures at maturity about two
inches, and undergoes its transformation in the ground. The chrysalis is eylindro-
covical, of a shining yellowish brown, and protected by a slight cocoon of a rough
irregular ovoid form, composed of agglutinated earth. The caterpillars of several
species of Agrotis, such as the one now under consideration, are very destructive on
account of their numbers, feeding on the roots and leaves of low herbage, and hiding
Vv
during the extreme heat of noon under clods of earth, stones, and other convenient
places. The number of larve, in seasons which prove favourable for their development,
almost surpasses belief. . . . . A fewyears ago, on the Hunter River, I carefully
examined a paddock of twenty-five acres, under oats for hay, which was much infested
by the caterpillars of this species, and found that nearly every stalk had at least one
caterpillar on it; numbers had two, many three. Taking the plants at twenty to the
square foot, and each with only one caterpillar, the result would be 21,780,000 of these
insects; and supposing that all these lived to become moths, each pair producing by
the end of the season a progeny of 80,000, the total produce for the twenty-five acres
would amount to 871,200,000,000. What, then, calculating under the same condi-
tions, would be the number of the caterpillars which were at the time I allude to
ravaging whole districts? A long line of figures almost unpronounceable.
“ Allowing for every reasonable loss caused by weather not unusually severe,
accident, or their numerous enemies, still there would remain quite sufficient to produce
those vast numbers of- moths, collected together from a wide range of country, and
seen clustering in caves, under ledges of rocks, in churches, houses, barns, in every
nook and cranny where their gregarious habits lead them, seeking shelter from the
glare of day. I therefure think that this natural increase, aided by favourable
weather, is qnite sufficient to account for the swarms of moths recently seen in many
localities, without having recourse to improbable theories. All moths are, in their
primary stages, purely terrestrial, and cannot ‘come in from the sea.’ They cannot
be born there, neither are their wings adapted for so long a flight as to cross the ocean
from any point of land to the eastward of our coast, particularly ‘in the teeth of
westerly winds.’ Indeed, many swarms of insects, besides the Lepidoptera, are known
to be blown from the land, while a few others wilfully fly seaward under some
unaccountable, almost insane, desire; but all these inevitably perish. I would suggest
that the moths seen by vessels at sea were either endeavouring vainly to emigrate, or,
what is far more probable, were driven away from the land by the prevalent westerly
winds, and perished by thousands in the ocean; those seen returning to the shore were
the fortunate few that had escaped before being carried too far to sea. I remember,
some years ago, walking along the sands for about five miles between Newcastle and
Redhead, -and I observed an almost continuous undulating line of dead bodies, several
deep, of these moths, marking the wash of high water along the whole of this length of
beach, interrupted only by the rocky headlands; and probably this exhibition of the
fate of these insects in such vast numbers was continued for a considerable distance
on either hard.
“Were it not for the wholesale destruction of these vast assemblages of insect
pests, cansed by the violence of winds—by the fall of rain for several days successively
—hy sudden changes of temperature—and by the host of enemies, following in their
wake, consisting of insectivorous birds and reptiles, and the numerous family of the
Ichneumonide, I fear all the endeavours of man by artificial means to eradicate them
would be bafiled. The abundant food furnished by the roots and leaves of the various
weeds and grasses growing over a vast extent of waste lands, will always ensure too
ample a supply of such noxious creatures. We can, however, check in some degree
the injury to our crops, and thus moderate the evil, by ploughing and harrowing the
fallow lands, thus cutting off the immediate supply of fuod,—by passing the roller
again and again over the growing crops when practicable—and by encouraging, not
vi
molesting, the many species of birds that visit the fields in flocks on such occasions.
I have seen crows, large brown hawks, magpies, cranes, spur-winged plovers, and a
host of smaller birds, enjoying during the day ample meals furnished by these cater-
pillars, and had a great difficulty in preventing the overseer from driving them away,
‘because,’ he said ‘ they eat the lucerne. The large family of ichneumons is also a
great ally of man in the war of extermination, for they pierce the body of the living
caterpillars, depositing their eggs within them, and thus cause a slow but certain
death before the larve can attain to the perfect or winged state, and on this account
they ought to be encouraged.
“In January and March of the year 1865, my friend Mr. Robert Vyner visited the
Bougong Mountains, accompanied in the first instance by an aborignal ‘Old
Wellington, and in the other by Mr. Sharp, of Adelong, Old Wellington, and
another black fellow; both of these latter well acquainted with the habits of the moth,
called by them ‘ Boogong’ and ‘Gnarliong’ indiscriminately. The tops of these
mountains are composed of granite, and present a series of lofty peaks, and it was up
one of these, named by the natives ‘ Numoiadongo,’ he and his companions toiled for
nearly six hours before attaining the summit; so steep and rugged was the path that
even the wild cattle never attempted to ascend to these heights. The moths were
found in vast assemblages, sheltered within the deep fissures and between the huge
masses of rocks which here form recesses, and might almost be considered as ‘ caves.’
On both sides of the chasms the face of the stone was literally covered with these
insects, packed closely side by side, overhead and under, presenting a dark surface of
a scale-like pattern—each moth, however, was resting firmly by its feet on the rock,
and not on the back of others, as in a swarm of bees. So numerous were these moths
that six bushels of them could easily have been gathered by the party at this one peak ;
and so abundant were the remains of the former occupants that a stick was thrust into
the débris on the floor to a depth of four feet. Mr. Vyner tells me that on this occasion
he ate, properly cooked by Old Wellington, about a quart of the moths, and found
them exceedingly nice and sweet, with a flavour of walnut—so much so that he desires
to have ‘another feed.’ His clothes, by the moths dashing against them on being
disturbed, were covered with honey, and smelt strongly of it for several days. At the
time these multitudes assembled, the tea-tree and the small stunted-looking white
gums were in full blossom, no doubt yielding up their honied treasures to these
nocturnal depredators, whose flight, when issuing from their hiding-places to the
feeding-grounds, was graphically described by Old Wellington, ‘ very much like wind,
or flock of sheep.’ The Tumut blacks report that the moths do not congregate on the
high peaks in the spring time, but they first locate the lower mountains, feeding on the
blossoms, which appear there earlier, and then work their way up to the higher peaks,
where the plants are later in bloom.
“The Bougong moths are collected and prepared for food by the aborigines in
this wise :—A blanket or sheet of bark is spread on the floor; the moths, on being
disturbed with a stick, fall down, are gathered up before they have time to crawl or fly
away, and thrust into a bag. To cook them, a hole is made on a sandy spot, and a
smart fire lit on it until the sand is thoroughly heated, when all portions left of the
glowing coal are carefully picked out for fear of scorching the bodies of the insects (as
in such a case a violent storm would inevitably arise, according to their superstitious
notions). The moths are now poured out of the bag, stirred about in the hot ashes for
Vii
a short time, and then placed upon a sheet of bark until cold. The next process is to
sift them carefully in.a net, by which action the heads fall through, and thus, the
wings and legs having been previously singed off, the bodies are obtained properly
prepared. In this state they are generally eaten, but sometimes they are ground intoa
paste by the use of a smooth stone and hollow piece of bark, and made into cakes,
“Tn this locality were seen many of these holes, having been formed years ago for
a similar purpose, by the then numerous blacks.
“Mr. Vyner also mentions that, at the period of his visit to this peak, he saw
hundreds of crows and magpies feeding upon these moths, and the foot-marks and
other tracks of native dogs and tiger cats were abundant, leading direct to the fissures
of the rocks, and although he did not see these animals, he adds, ‘I am certain from
their traces that they must feed upon the moths.’”
(See also Proc. Ent. Soc. 1839, p. xxiv.; 1840, p. xvi.; 1865, p. cxxix.)
Mr. F. Smith exhibited specimens of the Australian form of Pyrameis Cardui,
sent by Dr. Bennett to Dr. Gray, “taken in November, 1860, when off Cape Otway,
on the Australian Coast; multitudes of them were about the P. and O. Company’s
steamer ‘ Jeddo,’ alighting in numbers on board, and were captured.”
Prof. Westwood remarked that the butterfly in question had been recently separated
from Pyrameis Cardui by Prof. M‘Coy, and described under a new name. (See Proc.
Ent. Soc. 1867, p. 1xxxvii.)
Mr. Trimen exhibited a specimen of Apatura Ionia, a rare species from Asia
Minor, placed by some authors in tha genus Vanessa, by others in Pyrameis.
The Hon. T. De Grey exhibited Hypercallia Christierninana (see Proc. Ent. Soc.
1867, p. xcii), captured between Shoreham and Sevenoaks, in the locality where the
insect was a few years ago taken by Mr. W. Farren. Also Acidalia rubricata and
Opostega reliquella, Zed/., both taken in Norfolk in 1867; see Ent. Ann. 1868, p. 131;
with reference to Mr. Stainton’s remarks there published, on the swarming of Opostega
salaciella, Mr. De Grey added that he also had found that insect in such considerable
numbers together, that the term “swarming” was not inappropriate.
Mr. Hewitson communicated a note on the date of publication of Dr. Felder’s
second volume of the ‘ Reise der Novara,’ a question of some importance with reference
to the priority of nomenclature of numerous species of butterflies (see Zool. Record,
vol, iii. p. 433, and Trans. Ent. Soc. 3rd series, vol. v. p. 471). Mr. Hewitson made
several applications for the volume, either with coloured or uncoloured plates, at the
beginning of 1867, through Messrs. Williams and Norgate, who informed him that
they were unable to procure it from the booksellerin Vienna. Nevertheless the work
(i.e. the text, with uncoloured plates) was really published at the latter end of 1865.
Dr. Felder had written to him to the effect that the ‘ Reise der Novara’ was produced
by and at the expense of the Imperial Academy of Science, and was issued by the
Academy with uncoloured plates; coloured plates were not kept ready for sale, and
copies were only coloured to order, which fact was stated on the cover of the volume:
if any one had applied at the Academy, or to the bookseller of the Academy, at the
latter end of 1865, for the second volume with uncoloured plates, he could have been
supplied with 400 copies.
The President also read a letter to the same effect from Dr. Felder, who, in
corroboration of the above statements, enclosed a letter from Herr Oarl Gerold, the
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bookseller of the Imperial Academy, explaining that the reason why the work had not
been supplied when ordered by Mr. Hewitson was, that the only order he had received
was for a coloured copy; he had never received any order from England for an
uncoloured copy.
Sir John Lubbock communicated a letter from Dr. Signoret, dated Paris,
January 4, 1868, of which the following is a translation :—
“ At the Meetings of the 5th and 19th of November, 1866 (Proc. Ent. Soc. 1866,
pp. X¥Xxii. xxxvi.), mention was made of the Aphis which lives in the galls of the elm,
and it was spoken of as an object almost unknown at the present day, Geoffroy,
Réaumur, De Geer aud Et. Geoffroy (1764) being the only authors cited as having
treated of this insect. It would be unfortunate for Hemipterology if that branch of
Natural History had since that time fallen into oblivion, but it is not so, and to begin
with I have only to cite Mr. Francis Walker, who speaks of it in his List of
Homopterous Insects, p. 1049, and who cites some fifteen authors, all of whom describe
it more or less at length; to whom I may add Blot (Mem. Soc. Linn. de Caen, 1824),
Hartig (Germar’s Zeitsch. 1841), C. L. Koch (Die Pflanzenlause, 1857), and more
recently, Passerini (Aphidide Italice, Archiv. Zool. de Modéne, 1863).
“At the Meeting of the 5th of November (Proc. Ent. Soc. 1866, p. xxxii.) Mr.
Pascoe exhibited two females of a Coccus living under the leaves of the Eucalyptus.
Mr. Schrader has published an excellent paper with three plates in the first volume
of the Transactions of the Entomological Society of New South Wales, 1863, where
Mr. Pascoe will certainly find his species of Coccus.
“ As I have occupied myself for several years with Cochineal ae es in general, and
am endeavouring to bring together all the existing material on that subject, I should
receive with pleasure any papers, observations or insects which might be communicated
tome. As regards the insects, I should especially like to have the males, which are
extremely difficult to meet with, and I would ask those who find any to be kind
enough to place them in tubes with some weak spirit of wine, for when they are dried
it is impossible to make drawings of them. I should also be glad of information
respecting the plants on which they live, which also may be inserted in the tubes.”
Mr. F. Smith thought that Dr. Signoret had misunderstood his remarks about the
galls of the elm; the fact was that the galls in question had never been noticed in
this country before 1866. Mr. M‘Lachlan added that he had referred to Geoffroy,
Réaumur and De Geer, not as being the only authors who had described the gall,
but merely to show that, though new to this country, it had in fact been well known
on the Continent for more than a century.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited a new species of Oryssus, from the Gold Coast, the body
of which was of a splendid metallic deep emerald-green, a somewhat uncommon
occurrence among the Tenthredinidw. Also specimens of Brazilian Hymenoptera and
Diptera, whose economy was described in the paper mentioned below.
The Secretary exhibited a spider sent by Lord Cawdor, from Stackpole Court,
Pembroke, which was pronounced by Mr. Blackwall to be a female of Pholcus
phalangioides (see ‘Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland,’ part 2, p. 208), a species
which frequents the interior of old buildings in the South of England: having been
preserved in the dry state, the abdomen had shrunk greatly, and this circumstance had
ix
affected the colour. Mr. Blackwall added that in the spring of 1867 he received from
India a species of Pholcus, described as P. Lyoni (Ann. and Mag. N. H., ser. 3, vol.
xix. p. 392), one specimen of which “ presented the extraordinary physiological fact of
the union of the two sexes in the same individual.” In this gynandromorphous
spider, the left side exhibited male and the right side female characters.
Papers read.
Mr. F. Smith read “Observations on the Economy of Brazilian Insects, chiefly
Hymenoptera, from the Notes of Mr. Peckolt, of Cantagallo.”
Mr. M‘Lachlan read “A Monograph of the British Neuroptera-Planipennia,
enumerating forty-nine species as inhabitants of the British Isles.
February 17, 1868.
H. W. Barsrs, Esq., President, in the chair.
Donations to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors :—
* Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, 2nd series, vol. ii. parts 2—6, vol. iii. part 1; presented
by the Entomological Society of the Netherlands. ‘Remarks on the Names applied
to the British Hemiptera-Heteroptera,’ by F. P. Pascoe; by the Author.
Election of Members.
Linneus Cumming, Esq., B.A., and E. P. R. Curzon, Esq., both of Trinity
College, Cambridge, were severally ballotted for, and elected Members.
Exhibitions, §c.
Mr. M‘Lachlan exhibited a living specimen of Lucanus cervus, found under
ground in an earthen or clayey cocoon: Mr. Backhouse, of Teddington, digging in
his garden, had turned up half a dozen of these cocoons, each containing a beetle and
the remains of the skin of the larva and pupa. It thus appeared that the beetle had
not gone under ground to hybernate, but the larva had descended into the earth and
had there undergone the changes to pupa and imago. ’
Mr. A. E. Eaton remembered one or two such cocoons being dug up in the autumn,
about October, in a potato-field, and these contained living stag-beetles.
Mr. Janson also had dug stag-beetles out of earth, not wood; and thought that the
specimens appearing in the spring were in fact hatched in the autumn, and remained
in their cocoons throughout the winter.
Mr. Stainton compared the case to that of Cossus ligniperda, the larva and pupa
of which were specially adapted for their ordinary habitat in wood, but the larva some-
times, he believed in a state of nature, and certainly in confinement, went under
ground to change, and formed for itself an earthen cocoon. There was no evidence
that the larve of the goat-moth, which were not unfrequently found crawling about on
Cc
x
the surface of the ground, ever re-entered a tree, and he expected that these underwent
their transformations in the earth. :
Mr. Janson, on behalf of Mr. A. G. Latham, exhibited two specimens of the nest
er cocoon of a sociable larva from Port Natal: a large outer cocoon, three or four
inches in diameter, was made up of numerous coats of brown silky matter, the whole
forming a covering of considerable toughness, attached to and transpierced by a small
branch of a tree: on-cutting this open it was found to contain a number of smaller
cocoons, each of which was tenanted by a pupa. It seemed as if a score larve
associated themselves together to construct and build themselves into the outer family
cocoon, upon the completion of which each larva proceeded to spin its own indi-
vidual cocoon.
Mr. Trimen had found the same kind of cocoon in Natal: it was that of Anaphe
reticulata (Walker, Brit. Mus. Cat. Lep. Het. part iv. p. 856), one of the family
Liparide.
Mr. Janson, on behalf of Mr. Latham, also exhibited half-a-dozen larva-cases or
‘cocoons of another Lepidopterous insect, probably a Psyche, or allied thereto. These,
too, were from Natal, and were attached to and hung pendulous from the branch of a
‘tree, resembling a cluster of large beech-nuts.
Mr. Trimen said that these cases were common in Natal on the Mimosa, or thorny
‘acacia; he had collected many of them, but had never been able to breed a single moth
“of either sex.
Mr. Pascoe exhibited a beetle from New Zealand (probably from Otago), which he
regarded as the type of a new genus of Cucujide, and which he proposed to describe
under the name of Dryocora Howittii. He remarked that members of some of the
clavicorn families were well known to have tarsi with varying numbers of joints; or,
when the normal number were present, the basal joint was very small or almost
obsolete, as in many Cucujide, or the penultimate was very small or almost obsolete,
as in the Nitidulida. In Cucujus the tarsi were heteromerous in the male and
pentamerous in the female; but in Dryocora, which in other respects was allied to
Cucujus, the tarsi were tetramerous in both sexes, the basal joint being suppressed.
Organic modifications of this kind, and the exaggerations of form of some one organ
which in certain groups was found to be subject to unusual modification,--as the
antenne in Pausside, the eyes of Hippopsine, the pronota of Membracida, &c.,—
seemed to Mr. Pascoe “to point to a law of aberration only to be explained on the
hypothesis of the derivative origin of species.”
The President mentioned that Mr. Darwin was engaged in elaborating the subject
of secondary sexual differences and sexual selection, and would be obliged by the
communication of detailed observations on the numerical proportion of the sexes of
insects in nature. He had numerous cases of well-authenticated numerical excess of
the male over the female, and was desirous to ascertain whether in other cases a
corresponding excess of the female over the male had been noticed.
Mr. M‘Lachlan mentioned Apatania muliebris, of which he had captured hundreds,
but the male had never been seen; and Boreus hiemalis, of which only three or four
males had been known to occur in this country. Mr. Janson mentioned Tomicus
villosus, the female of which was almost a plague, whilst the male was bardly known.
Mr. F. Smith cited Tenthredo cingulatus, the male of which was rare, whilst the
female abounded, and Hemichroa alni, of which the male was quite unknown. Of
xi
the latter Mr. Smith had a large number of cocoons, and if there were such a thing
as a male of that species he hoped soon to breed it.
The President remarked that the different habits of the sexes must be taken into
account. Among the South-American butterflies, the males of many were more
handsome than the females, and exceeded them in number in the proportion of a
hundred to one; the male sported in the sunshine, whilst the female was slow in
flight, never appeared in the open sun, but remained in the shade of the forest: under
such circumstances it might be that a superabundance of males was necessary in order
to ensure the impregnation of the females and to prevent the extinction of the
species; but he was unable to suggest any explanation of an excess of females. over
males.
Mr. Stainton thought that, by reason of the difference of habit of the sexes, little
reliance could be placed upon records of a supposed disproportion of the number of
the sexes of any insect when in a state of nature: it was only by breeding the insect
that the relative numbers of the sexes could be ascertained with any certainty. In
Micro-Lepidoptera he had often found the result of observations in the field at
variance with the result of breeding the same species in confinement; species the.
females of which, from their retiring and secluded habits, were seldom caught, whilst
the males were common, had, when eggs or larve were obtained, produced twice as many
females as males.
Mr. M‘Lachlan said that Mr. Darwin had recently put two queries to him, Do
male dragon-flies fight with one another? and, Do many or several males follow
ene female? He confessed his inability to answer with certainty either of these
apparently simple questions.
Papers read.
' The following papers were read :—
“A few Observations on the Synonymy of Tinea (?) alpicella and Zelleria saxi.
frage, n. sp.,” by Mr. H. T. Stainton.
“On the Homologies of the Ovipositor,” by Mr. A. E. Eaton.
“Contributions to a Knowledge of the Coleoptera,” Part 1 (continued); by
Mr. F, P. Pascoe. The following are brief diagnoses of some of the most interesting
of the new genera and species :—
Exestora (Leperine affinis). Oculi liberi. Antenne breviuscule ; clava articulig
3 transversis, perfoliatis, Labium profunde divisum, ciliatum. Corpus grossum,
velutinum.
Elestora fulgurata. Aterrima; scutello, maculisque 4 magnis elytrorum auran-
tiacis. Long. 6% lin. Penang.
Dryocora (Cucujo affinis). Palpi acuti. Prothorax apicem versus gradatim
angustior, lateribus integris, Prosternum latum. Metasternum elongatum. Tarsi
od et 2 4-articulati.
Dryocora Howittit. Ferruginea, nitida; elytris subtiliter lineato- Delete Long.
4 lin. New Zealand.
Nessiaro histria. Atva; capite, prothorace basi excepta, elytrorumque apicibus
miniaceis; elytris, corpore subtus, pedibusque cinercis, illis nigvo-lineatis. Long.
10 lin. Manilla.
X11
Orosycnus (Iphthimo affinis). Mentum antice bilobum, in medio haud sul-
catum. Tibie curvate, anteriores ¢ longitudinaliter excavate et intus apicem versus
dentate. Tarsi infra breviter et sparse ciliati.
Orobychus Lacordairit (Iphthimus Lacordairii, Dej. Cat.). Niger, subnitidus;
prothorace impunctato, 4-foveolato, marginibus elevatis, subcrenatis, nitidis; elytris
foveis magnis dense impressis; femoribus posticis ¢ intus ochraceo-hirsutis. Long.
20 lin. Brazil.
Bycrea (inter Trachyscelinas et Phaleriinas). Labrum clypeo occultum. Genw
medium oculorum impingentes. Prothorax basi bisinuatus. Mesosternum antice
incisum. Tarsi unicalcarati. Corpus marginibus ciliatis.
Bycrea villosa. Late ovata, fusca, pilis aureo-brunneis tecta; elytris maculis
denudatis ; scutello glabro, nigro, nitido. Long.3 lin. Mexico.
Orcoracia (Bolitothero affinis) Antenne 10-articulate, clava_bisarticulata.
Epipleura indistincta. Tibie antice crescentiformes. Tarsi articulo basali
libero.
Orcopagia monstrosa. Elongata, rufo-ferruginea, valde tuberculata; elypeo
cornuto; prothorace gibboso, caput occultante; elytris parallelis, postice abrupte
declivibus. Long. 4 lin. Australia.
Bierecenes (Alryphodi affinis). Caput exsertum. Clypeus haud incrassatus;
sulcus clypealis in medio interruptus; auricule oculares recurvate et in spinam
product. Prothorax antice truncatus.
Blepegenes aruspex. Cupreo-fuscus; prothorace 4-foveolato, utrinque 2-spinoso,
spina antica producta, paulo recurvata, postica parva; elytris carinis 10 nitidis ornatis.
Long. 9 lin. Australia.
Aspuatus (gen. Pedininarum ?). Trophi ut in Pedino, sed lobo interiore maxillari
fortiter hamato. Antenne articulo 30 vix 40 longiore. Prothorax basi bisinuatus.
Tibiz antice et tarsi (¢?) simplices.
Asphalus ebeninus, Aterrimus, nitidus, levis; elytris fere obselete punctato-
striatis. Long. 8 lin. Australia.
Artactes (Hemicyclo affinis). Tarsi articulo ultimo elongato, Prosternum
postice subdepressum, excavatum. Corpus hemisphericum.
Artactes nigritarsis. Viridi-ceruleus, nitidus; tarsis nigris. Long. 4 lin. Sumatra.
Psypus (Dicyrto affinis). Antenne breves, articuli 7—11 transversi, compressi.
Mesosternum excavatum. Tarsi articulo ultimo elongato.
Psydus plantaris. Fusco-metallicus ; elytris irregulariter impresso-punctatis ; tarsis _
subtus fulvo-pilosis. Long. 6 lin. Ceylon.
Diestioa (gen. Strongyliinarum). Aatenne articulis 4 (vel 5) apicalibus trans-
versis, dilatatis. Oculi distantes. Prothorax lateribus carinatus.
Diestica viridipennis. Elytris obscure viridibus, basi humerisque exceptis; an-
tennis luteis, clava nigra. Long. 6 lin. Ega.
Evrromus. Tuberes antennarum validi, erecti, approximati; scapus brevis, ob-
conicus, apice valde cicatricosus. Prosternum elevatum. Pedes equales. Typus,
“ Oplophora (Callimation) Sieboldii,’? Guérin = Monohammus Championi, White.
Japan. .
Brxapus. Antenne articulo 30 haud 40 longiore. Oculi sat magni. Pedes
wquales, femora incrassata. Pro- et meso-sterna declivia. Typus, Monohammus
Sterricola, White. Sierra Leone.
xiit
AntHores. Antenne articulo 30 sequentibus longiore. Oculi mediocres. Elytra
basi cristata. Pedes exquales, femora incrassata. Pro- et meso-sterna declivia.
Typus, Monohammus leuconotus, White. Natal.
Oprrpnarus (Monohammo affinis). Antenne longissime, articulis 30 et 40 equali-
bus, ultimo subulato. Elytra basi cristata. Pedes robusti, intermedii minores ;
femora in medio incrassata. Pro- et meso-sterna declivia.
Opepharus signator. Griseus, cinereo varius; elytris pone medium maculis
6 nigris. Long. 13 lin. Madagascar.
Thysia viduata. Breviuscula, plumbeo-nigta; prothorace utrinque spinoso; elytris
fasciis 5 vel 6 atris, apicibus emarginatis; mesosterno producto. Long. 12 lin.
Sumatra.
March 2, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Donations to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—
‘The Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, No. 39; presented by the Society.
Newman’s ‘ British Moths, No. 15, and ‘The Insect-Hunter’s Year-Book for 1867 ;’
by the Author. ‘The Zovlogist’ for March; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s
Monthly Magazine’ for March; by the Editors.
Election of Members.
G. A. Lebour, Esq., of the Geological Survey Office, and Captain A. F. Lendy,
of Sunbury, were severally ballotted for, and elected Members.
Exhibitions, §c.
Mr. Edward Saunders exhibited various species of Buprestidae which he had com-
pared with the Fabrician type-specimens in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, with
a view to the correction of several errors of nomenclature. Thus the insects known as
Psiloptera morbillosa, Dicerca lurida and Belionota canaliculata were not the true
morbillosa, lurida and canaliculata of Fabricius: the species commonly called Ancy-
locheira flavomaculata, Fabr., was in fact the maculata of Fabricius, whilst the
maculata of authors other than Fabricius was identical with the strigosa of Gebler.
Mr. E. Saunders also exhibited Pasiphae modesta and Ethon cruciatum, which,
though described by Fabricius, and figured by Olivier and Herbst, had not been
noticed by recent authors, except that Gory had described, under the name of
Buprestis superba, an insect which was not specifically distinct from P. modesta.
Mr. Pascoe exhibited the type of a new genus of Prionide, captured by
Mr. Swanzy ; and read the following description :—
“ EuptanopEs (Colpodero aff.).—Clypeus distinctus. Prothorax marginibus
angustatis, serratis. Mesosternum latum. Tibie simplices, compresse ; tarsi breves,
articulo ultimo ceteris fere equali. Corpus haud validum.
Xiv
Eudianodes Swanziit.—Niger, nitidus; capite prothoraceque subtiliter punctatis,
hoc macula magna fere tripartita fulva ornato; elytris subtilissime punctatis. Long.
1l lin. Hab.-Cape Coast Castle.”
Mr. Pascoe also read the following description of a new species of Curcu-
lionide :—
“ Oxycorynus hydnore.—Rufo-fuscus; rostro attenuato; fronte prothoraceque
creberrime punctatis; elytris 6-carinatis, interstitiis granulatis. Long. 6 lin. (rostro
incl.). Hab. Catamareca.”
This Oxycorynus formed part of the contents of a small box sent from South
America by Mr. F. Schickendantz, of Pilciao (see Proc. Ent. Soc. 1867, p. cviii). The
other insects in the box were a Xylopertha, resembling X. sinuata, but smaller; two
species of Nitidulidz, apparently near Carpophilus; and a Saprinus, with a large
yellow spot on each elytron. The whole of these were stated by Mr. Shickendantz to
have been found by him “in the flowers of a new species of Hydnora” (a genus of
Cytinacee, root-parasites, some of which exhale a peculiar animal odour).
Mr. T. W. Wood (who was present as a visitor) exhibited pupe of several Lepi-
doptera from Sierra Leone, one of which, apparently an Anthergwa, was remarkable
from having two very deep impressions near the hinder extremity. Mr. Wood men-
tioned that he had once opened a pupa of Sphinx Ligustri, and found that the
haustellum was of the moth, after passing down the projecting snout of the pupa
and up again, was continued down the breast of the insect and terminated on a level
with the extremity of the wing-cases.
With reference to the numerical disproportion of the sexes of insects (ante, p. x),
Mr. Stainton mentioned that since the previous Meeting he had inquired the results
of the experience of Mr. Doubleday and Mr. Hellins in breeding Micro-Lepidoptera.
Mr. Doubleday thought that males were generally more numerous than females, and
did not remember a single instance in which he had met with an excess of females.
Mr. Hellins, on the other hand, reported that he had usually found females more
numerous than males.
Mr. Stainton added that Mr. Darwin would be glad to receive replies to the following
further inquiries: —(1), whether sexual attraction or fascination was exercised in
the same manner by butterflies which have the wings gaily ornamented on the under
side and by those which have dark under sides, as e.g. by Argynnis and Vanessa ;,
(2), whether any and what moths were more brightly coloured in the male than in the
female sex; and (3), whether any and what moths were more conspicuously coloured
on the under side than on the upper side of the wings. (In reply to the third query,
Mr. Wormald mentioned the genus Hypopyra). Mr. Darwin was also desirous of
acquiring facts bearing on the distinction between sexual and protective colouring in
insects; and of ascertaining the causes which decided the success of one out of several
males which were in pursuit of the same female.
RY
Match 16, 1868.
H. W. Bartss, Esq., President, in the chair.
Denations to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—
*Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, 1868, Nos. 1—3; presented by the Entom. Verein
zu Stettin. ‘ Coleopterologische Hefte,’ II.; by the Editor, Baron Edgar von Harold.
‘Monographie der Scydmeniden Central- und Sid-Amerika’s;’ by the Author,
Dr. L. W. Schaufuss.
Election of Member.
Charles Carrington, Esq., of Westwood Park, Forest Hill, was ballotted for, and
elected a Member.
Exhibitions, §c.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited a specimen of the larva of a Lepidopterous insect from
Brazil, which was described by Mr. Peckolt, of Cantagallo, as being of a social habit,
and forming a common cocoon as large as a man’s head, within which each individual
formed its own proper cocoon. The larva was covered with spines, like a Vanessa or
Acrea; and appeared to belong to one of the Diurni rather than to one of the
Bombyces. (See Trans. Ent. Soc. 1868, p. 136).
Mr. Stainton directed attention to the account given by Herr Hartmann, in Stett.
Ent. Zeit. 1868, p. 109, of the breeding of Sesia cephiformis, Grapholitha duplicana,
Zett. (interruptana, H.-S.), and Gelechia electella, from gall-like swellings on the
twigs of juniper bushes: an examination of the juniper during the spring would
probably lead to the discovery in this country of the larve of the two last-mentioned
species.
The President announced the proximate publication, by Dr. Gemminger and Baron
E. von Harold, of the first part of a General Catalogue of Coleoptera, intended to in-
clude all the hitherto-described species of the whole world: the classification would be
based on that of Lacordaire, the species of each genus being arranged in alphabetical
order.
Mr. F. Smith read a paper on ants, extracted from ‘ The Guardian’ of 1713, and,
as the result of an elaborate and amusing criticism thereof, contended that the history
of the habits of those insects therein contained, detailed and circumstantial though it
were, could not be a record of actual observations, but was chiefly, if not entirely, the
offspring of the imagination of the writer.
April 6, 1868.
H. W. Bates, Esq., President, in the chair.
Donations io the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—
Hewitson’s ‘Exotic Butterflies, part 66; presented by W. W. Saunders, Esq.
XV1
Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ No. 16; by the Author. ‘ The Zoologist’ for April; by the
Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine’ for April; by the Editors. ‘ Pro-
ceedings of the Holmesdale Natural History Club, for 1866-67, and ‘ Natural History
of Reigate and its Vicinity: List of Coleoptera, Part 2;’ by the Holmesdale Natural
History Club.
Exhibitions, &c.
Mr. Stainton exhibited larve of a new species of Nepticula, sent from Mentone by
Mr. Moggridge, where they were found in the leaves of Euphorbia dendroides. The
perfect insect had been obtained from larve of the previous season, and would be
described as Nepticula euphorbiella.
Mr. Stainton also exhibited the specimen which in 1854 he had described
(‘Insecta Britannica,’ iii, 47) under the name of Nemophora Carteri; it was
formerly in the collection of the late Mr. S. Carter, of Manchester (who, however,
was unable tu give any account of the insect or its place of capture), and had now
passed into the possession of Mr.S. Stevens. Recent examination had convinced
Mr. Stainton, and the exhibition of the specimen satisfied the other Lepidopterists
present, that the supposed Nemophora Carteri was a fabrication, made by attaching
the hind wings of a Cerostoma to the fore wings of a Nemophora.
Mr. W. C. Boyd exhibited a strongly marked variety of Stenopteryx hybridalis,
captured in Hertfordshire.
Mr. J. Jenner Weir exhibited a Polyommatus captured at Lewes, which he
regarded as a hybrid between P. Adonis and Alexis; also varieties of P. Corydon and
Alexis, with confluent spots on the under side, and a male-like female of P. Alexis.
Mr. Druce exhibited a collection of butterflies collected by Mr. Pearson in
Bolivia.
Mr. F. Smith mentioned that about September, 1866, Mr. Waring Kidd had sent
to the British Museum a pollard oak, which was placed in a closed ease in one of the
galleries, for the purpose of showing the modus operandi of Cynips Kollari. In the
spring of 1866 a numerous brood of Clytus arietis appeared in the case; they were
observed running about the oak-stump for about three weeks, when, unable to escape,
they died, and their remains were afterwards swept away. The same thing occurred
in 1867, and in 1868, on the morning of the Meeting, the Clytus had made its third
appearance. The large quantities of camphor placed in the Museum cases did not
seem to affect them, or to prevent the development of the beetle.
Mr. Janson said that camphor, though useful in preventing the entry of insects,
was powerless to destroy them: at the same time he doubted whether the Clytus had
been reproduced in the Museum; the insect probably remained in the larva state for
two or three years, and it was quite possible that all the larve from which the
successive broods of 1866, 1867 and 1868 had appeared were present in the wood on
its admission into the Museum in 1860.
xvii
May 4, 1868.
H. T. Sraryron, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair.
Donations to the Library.
_ The fellowing donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—
©Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1800—1863), compiled and published by the Royal
Society of London,’ vol. i.; presented by the Royal Society. ‘ Proceedings of the Royal
Society,’ Nos. 98—100; by the Society. ‘The Journal of the Quekett Microscopical
Club,’ Nos. 1 and 2; by the Club. ‘The Journal of the Linnean Society,’ Zoology,
No. 40; by the Society. ‘The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,’
2nd series, vol. iv. part1; by the Society. ‘Bulletins de ’Académie Royale des
Sciences, &c., de Belgique,’ 2me ser., t. xxiv.; by the Academy. ‘Bulletin de la
Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1867, No. II.; by the Society.
‘Essai d’une Faune Entomologique de l’Archipel Indo-néerlandais,’ par 8. C. Snellen
van Vollenhoven. Troisiéme Monographie: Famille des Pentatomides, Ire Partie; by
the Author. ‘On Pauropus, a New Type of Centipede;’ and ‘Notes on the Thy-
sanura,’ Part iii.; by the Author, Sir John Lubbock, Bart. ‘On the Lepidopterous
Insects of Bengal,’ by Frederic Moore; by the Author. ‘Remarks on the Names
applied to the British Hemiptera Heteroptera, by J. W. Douglas and John Scott ;
by the Authors, Newman’s ‘ British Moths, No. 17; by the Author. ‘The Zoolo-
gist, for May; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, for May;
by the Editors.
Exhibitions, §c.
Mr. W. C. Boyd exhibited a number of skins of larve of Lepidoptera, admirably
prepared by Mr. Davis, of Waltham Cross, so as to preserve both the form and colour
of the caterpillars.
Mr. Trimen exhibited a crippled specimen of Saturnia Pavonia-minor, which,
owing probably to the form and smallness of the box in which it was con-
fined, had attempted to emerge from its cocoon tail-foremost, but failing in the
attempt was found fixed with its head in contiguity with the head of the pupa-
skin.
Dr. Wallace, of Colchester, offered to send eggs of the Japanese oak-feeding silk-
worm, Bombyx Yamamai, to any Member of the Society.
Mr. Stainton drew attention to the plate illustrating a paper entitled “ Histoire
d'une Chenille mineuse des fenilles de vigne, extraite d’une lettre écrite de Malte a
M. de Reaumur,” published in the ‘ Memoires de Académie Royale des Sciences de
Paris, in 1750. The habit of the footless larva which attacked the vine in Malta and
produced a small moth was so carefully described and pourtrayed by M. Godeheu de
Riville, that there was no difficulty in recognizing it as congeneric with the fuotless
larve of Antispila Treitschkeella and Pfeifferella, and Mr. Stainton some time since
proposed the name of Antispila Rivillii, in the hope that the species would be again
detected in some of the vine-growing districts of Southern Europe. To the present
day, however, the moth remains unknown, and the larva is known only by the record
of M. de Riville.
D
XVili
Mr. Hewitson communicated the following note on Tachyris Jacquinotii (see
Trans. Ent. Soc. 1868, p. 99) :— "
“T find, from a recent visit to the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, that the Pieris
described by Lucas under the name Jacquinotii is nothing more than a highly-
coloured variety of P. albina, and when Mr. Wallace went over my collection I under-
stood that he cunsidered it as such. It does not come, as stated by Lucas, from New
Guinea, but from New Caledonia, and has not, as I suggested, any relation with the
South-American P. Isandra.”
Mr. M‘Lachlan mentioned that the Anax mediterraneus of de Selys Longchamps,
which had on a solitary occasion been captured in the Island of Sardinia, but had been
rejected from the list of European dragon-flies, was observed in swarms at Turin and
in other parts of Italy by Dr. Ghiliani and others, on numerous occasions, from July to
September, 1867.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited a larva which he believed to be a Xantholinus, found
by Mr. O. Janson whilst digging in a sand-bank at Snaresbrook: attached by their
hinder extremities to the under side of this larva, on the 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th
segments respectively, were four pupw of a Hymenopterous parasite, probably a
Proctotrupes.
Mr. F. Smith also exhibited a Longicorn beetle, Cerosterna gladiator, and a large
Acheta, which were very destructive to forest-trees in Madras.
Dr. Cleghorn, Conservator of Forests, Madras (who was present as a visitor), said
that these insects had done great damage in the young Casuarina plantations along
the Madras Railway. The attacks of the beetle were principally directed to the bark
of the trees; but the cricket generally bit off the leading shoots or primary branches.
It appeared suddenly in September, 1867, after some showers of rain at the end of the
hot season: during the night the larve emerged from the sand, crawled up the young
trees, and nibbled off the leading shoots (as a rabbit might have done), many of which,
six inches long, were found lying on the ground; hundreds of trees had to be replaced
on the railway-banks in consequence of their depredations. The best way to save the
trees was to employ boys to dig out the larve from the tortuous galleries or passages
which they made in the sand to a depth of ten to fifteen inches, and large enough
to admit the little finger: he had had bushels of them dug out of their burrows
and destroyed. In reply to inquiries, Dr. Cleghorn stated that he had himself
frequently seen the larve crawling up the stems, and was convinced that they
were the authors of the injury, but he had never seen them in the act of cutting off
the shoots.
Mr. Trimen mentioned, as a parallel case, a tree-cricket at the Cape which eats
the terminal shoots of the silver-tree (Leucodendron argenteum), by which, however, the
shoots are not wantonly bitten off, but are consumed for food.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited eight kinds of larve from India, all of which were
deseribed as “borers,” and as causing great damage to the coffee and other trees.
Three of them appeared to be Lepidopterous; one, the “ red borer” of Ceylon, which
attacks a tree in the middle of the stem and works its way upwards through the pith,
belonged to a species of Zenzera; a second, which was a somewhat similar larva, was
found in the pith of the charcoal tree (Sponia Wightii); the third, the “great white
borer,” also looked like a Zenzera, and was usually found at the root of coffee and
xix
other trees. The remaining five larve were Coleopterous; one was probably a
Pyrochroa, and was found in the coffee tree; another, a Buprestis, found in the root
of a dead coffee tree; a third, an Oryctes, found in a dead forest tree in a coffee
plantation ; a fourth was a Longicorn; and the fifth was the “ white borer,” or “ coffee
borer” par excellence, Xylotrechus quadripes of Chevrolat. Of this insect numerous
specimens in all its stages were exhibited, together with the stem of a coffee tree
attacked by the larve.
With respect to the last-mentioned insect, Mr. F. Smith drew attention to a
pamphlet (Madras, 1867) entitled ‘ Preliminary Remarks on the Ravages of the
Borer in the year 1867, by Colonel C. P. Taylor, of the Madras Staff Corps. The
following are extracts :—
“A very prevalent opinion exists, I believe, that the borer may come to nothing,
or it may exterminate our plantations entirely. I confess that when I read of the
successes and failures of various kinds of cultivation, and reflect upon the good and
bad seasons all over the globe, when I consider how many luxuriant coffee estates
have for so many years succeeded in India, and moreover when T admit the un-
doubted fact that the red borer has been known for years on our estates and in
Ceylon, I cannot regard the extraordinary visitation of 1867 in any light but that ofa
plague which has come upon us, and with due cave and precaution on our part will
pass away. . . . . The borer was very destructive in 1859. His ravages in
1867 are certainly more alarming, but I believe that although this insect may remain
more or less on the estates, such fatal ravages are not likely to occur fur many years.
It is impossible to disguise the damage already done, and doubtless this becomes a
most serious question, but I trust that many an estate may yet be saved to its owners.
I understand that some proprietors contemplate no further outlay, but purpose taking
the coming crop, whatever it may be, and then abandoning their properties. . . . .
It has been advanced by some persons who take a desponding view of this calamity
that the coffee estates may die out in the same manner as the vines have perished in
Madeira. I thiuk we should dismiss any idea of this kind from our minds altogether,
as the cases are not analogous. The vines, it is generally admitted, perished from a
disease of the trees themselves, and not from any insect. The theory that the borer
only attacks weakly trees (though supported by a most eminent entomologist with
regard to ligniperdous insects) is, I believe, open to question in this case. Mr. Young,
the Chairman of the Carnatic Coffee Company, in writing from personal inspection,
declares that ‘the finest trees are its choice victims;’ and I believe every planter
who has seen the borer in any numbers will bear me out in the assertion that the
insect is indiscriminate in its ravages. It is quite possible that men who formed a
different opinion on their own estates were mistaken, and that the sickly appearance
they observed was in reality the borer who had entered the year before unnoticed... .
The trees which on passing through an estate the planter can perceive are showing
signs of something wrong should, in my opinion, be taken up, and nightly bonfires be
lighted with a collection of them. . . . . Some estates which have had the borer
for some three or four years are nearly destroyed. If the affected trees had been burnt
the first year, I believe that such estates might have been saved to a great extent.
As it is, on some estates, as many as seventeen perfect beetles have been discovered in
one tree, in addition to others in the pupa state. . . . . My impression is that the
xX
white borer has been in many plantations for several years, and that he goes on,
maturing or expiring, according to the weather. These dry seasons have enabled him
to make a great stride in his work of destruction, and the trees have become loaded
with larve. . . . . J advise the burning of all affected trees; and as it has,
I believe, been almost universally admitted in Coorg and Mysore that shade is
beneficial, I should plant shade in the vacancies instead of young coffee, which rarely
succeeds with old plants. . . . . The handling of trees for the removal of any
eggs might be useful. . , . . Fish-oil and svot are spoken of, to stop the trees
with, and chloride-of-lime water, or arsenic solution, or cyanide of potassium, to be
syringed into them. Of all preventive and remedial measures as yet proposed,
I consider the most valuable to be the plan of whitewashing the trees when good lime
can be procured. Fires should invariably be lighted at this season, because it appears
that the borer beetle escapes at night, and during this month (September). At the
same time it is probable the beetle may escape during the daytime also. It has the
power of boring ils way out of the tree after it has changed from the pupa to the
perfect beetle, notwithstanding that it may have to open a considerable aperture for
the egress of its body. It is, in fact, furnished with a boring apparatus as effective in
its purposes, though not of the same description, as that of the larva. This was
exemplified in an experiment made by Captain Mitchell, of the Madras Museum, and
myself. A portion of a coffee tree which we split up (brought from Coorg about ten days
before) disclosed a beetle in a cleft of the tree, which proved afterwards to be a female.
She appeared to have no inclination to escape, though she could easily have done
so. She was comfortable and apparently torpid in her hole. We tied up the piece of
the tree tightly, and Captain Mitchell placed it in a glass bottle with a stopper. In
the morning he examined it, and found the beetle outside the wood, lively, and
running up and down in a wonderfully active manner, feeling about with ber
antenne as busily as possible. On examination of the piece of the tree, we found
that during the night this insect had bored a large hole outwards, and had come out
of the bark from the position in which we first discovered her. . . . . It is
doubtful whether the beetles will fly into the fire, though they will come round it in
great numbers, in which case coolies with nets or branches of trees might kill a great
DAS ic os), Can we introduce or encourage the breed of any animals inimical
to insect life? Can the ornithologist be of any service here? Those birds which live
chiefly in trees and hedges, if encouraged and protected on an estate, might prove
formidable enemies to the borer. Flocks of guinea-fowls would kill a large number of
insects; .... they are mostly attached to white ants and grubs, but this borer is a very
diminutive insect considering his powers of destruction, and I have no doubt the
guinea-fowl would take to him amazingly. . . . Is it the case that, after two
or more seasons of failure in the average amount of rain, the coffee trees become to a
certain extent sapless, and offer an easy prey to ligniperdous insects of all kinds?
I have stated before that this is open to question, but it has been asserted that such is
the case, and that when the trees are luxuriant, and from constant showers in
seasonable and heavy monsoons they have become in a high state of cultivation and
are full of sap, the borer cannot make so much way in his depredations; he is, in fact,
bothered (so to speak) by too much moisture in the wood. There are doubtless
vatious kinds of borers, some of which have actually attacked this year the sandal-
wood, whose scent it was supposed would scare the hungriest larve ; some again have
Xxl
attacked dried-up and utterly sapless trunks, in whose fibrous elements not a particle
of nourishment could be supposed to dwell. . . . . It is important to discover if
a juicy or a sapless coffee bush is selected by the borer, and if so, by what borer. ...
I believe that the white or red borer was originally indiscriminate in his attacks, either
in shade or the open. I believe that the spread of insects has greatly increased by the
absence of shelter for the birds of the forest. . . . . I think that in many cases
which have undoubtedly occurred, where the coffee in the open has been so fearfully
injured by insects, the real cause has been that the warmth of such situations is
peculiarly favourable to insect development. Millions of eggs might be hatched in
such situations, which would rot in a damp or shady position with the forest overhead.
Once hatched the larve can only attack the tree in which they are placed. It will be
asked, how do I account for the little injury done by the red borer in Ceylon, although
the coffee is almost all in the open? I answer, the great and almost constant
dampness of the climate is inimical to the borer, and prevents his being so prolific as
in warm and dry situations. . . . . This view of the case is also borne out by
the fact that in cool situations in India, such as estates at high elevations, the
destruction has hitherto been of little consequence; whereas the estates which have
suffered most seriously are in every case, I believe, at low elevations with a high
temperature. It is a question, however, if a coffee tree can be too full of sap, too
moist, too juicy, or tuo succulent to present a favourable field for the attacks of the
dreaded white borer. All I say is, I doubt it. On examination of numerous trees,
I am led to believe that if the borer larve had the power of selecting their food, they
would undoubtedly choose the tree in which there was the most nourishment. . . . .
If I am correct in my argument, we at once grasp at one of the causes of the great
havoc of 1867.. Man has transformed many a cool and shady forest into a hot and
shadeless coffee garden, and has removed the chief enemies of the borer, cold and
damp. Nature, for three years withholding her ordipary showers, has assisted
certainly, but may not the result be attributable to man? May he not, by a too
indiscriminate felling of forest in hot exposed situations, have caused the great
increase in insect development, the results of which we now so bitterly deplore?....
When I was clearing away jungle, four years ago, on my estate at Nemaur in the
Nuggur Division of the Mysore country, the Brahmins warned me against removing
the shade. ‘1f you cut the trees down,’ they said, ‘ the sun will be very hot, and will
bring poochies’ (insects). I was under the impression that the climate of Nemaur
was too damp and the rains too heavy for shade, or even partial shade, for the coffee,
but I find T was mistaken, and we are now actually planting shade in parts of the
estate. Tbe elevation is about 2800 feet. It is also an interesting subject for inquiry,
if the felling and dying out of any bambous or jungle trees have driven the borer to
the coffee. The thevry that because in hot dry situations, unshaded from the scorching
rays of the sun, the coffee tree becomes exhausted and sapless, and therefore the more
liable to the attacks of the borer, who, in fact, proceeds to that portion of the estate in
the first instance, and lays her eggs there in preference to the shady portions, may be
the correct one, but it does not appear to me to be so. One thing is plain, viz. that
throughout the coffee districts of South India, the trees in the open have suffered
incaleulably more than those in shade. At least I am satisfied that this is so as
far as regards Coorg and Mysore. . . . . In Coorg there is a legend that when
bamboos die insects are created -in myriads and attack all trees, Now in 1867 the
XXil
bamboos in Coorg have died in enormous quantities. It is believed that they do so
in a cycle of sixty years. . . . . Some planters have noticed the beetles at
night collect against the windows of their houses, attracted by the light inside. Now
insect-traps might be so constructed with lights as to secure great numbers in
different parts of an estate during the night. It has occurred to me that a simple
contrivance would be a mud but, lighted up and roofed in, with apertures all round,
and the walls inside and out hung with cloth covered with some sticky tenacious
substance, with which the floor also should be covered, which would disable the beetle
on contact. The natives prepare a capital bird-lime, which would answer the purpose,
from the juice of the banyan tree (Ficus indica). . . . . A still simpler con-
trivance would be a large basket like a common native bird-cage, or a round and
more substantial trellis-work might be constructed, open at the top, in any case
covered with a sticky substance and a lantern in the centre. Another plan which has
occurred to me fora trap, is a square shallow trough, with a lantern in the centre,
filled to about half-an-inch with liquid molasses. It is feared that pitch would not
answer, as the smell would deter the beetles from approaching.”
Captain Ralph Taylor, a resident and planter in Coorg (who was present as a
visitor), gave his personal experiences of the “ white borer,” stating that he had known
coffee trees. of twelve years old destroyed by thousands; that the beetle emerged at all
times of the year, or at any rate in August and from November to February; and that
lime, and light, and other things had been tried, but no remedy had proved effectual.
At the same time he was disposed to take a hopeful view, and believed that the evil
was already on the decrease and would soon disappear; whilst he had last year obtained
from 7 to 8 cwt. per acre from a plantation which was attacked by the “borer.” He
had himself known the white borer since 1863.
Dr. Cleghorn said that other trees beside the coffee were attacked by the
Xylotrechus, and he thought that drought was a predisposing cause which rendered
the trees either more liable to be attacked or less able to resist attack.
Mr. F. Smith remarked that Col. Taylor’s opinion, that the borer larva would from
choice select the trees in which there was most moisture or nourishment, was directly
opposed to his own experience of the habits of the species of Clytus found in this
country; he had never found either the larva or perfect insect in any other than dead
wood, or in the decaying branches of living trees. The borer had no doubt existed in
India long before the coffee-plant was cultivated, and as clearings of jungle were made
it naturally resorted to the plantations so admirably suited to its requirements. If the
planters abandoned their properties, the insect would have the opportunity of
increasing without check and would spread over the neighbouring plantations. Mr.
Smith had observed Clytus arietis in this country to be usually very abundant about
the same stump or railings for four or five years in succession, when they appeared to
move off to fresh quarters, the larve having, as he supposed, so riddled the posts that
little or no wood remained to be fed upon.
Mr. Janson expressed his conviction that, as in this country, so also in India, it
was decaying or unhealthy trees alone that were attacked by Clytus.
Papers read.
The following papers were read :—
“On the Duration of Life in the Honey Bee,” by Mr. J. G. Desborough.
“ Descriptions of Aculeate Hymenoptera from Australia,” by Mr. F. Smith.
XXilll
&
New Parts of ‘ Transactions.’
Trans. Ent. Soc., third series, vol. iii. part 5, containing a further instalment of Mr.
Paseve’s “ Longicornia Malayana,” and the first part of ‘The Transactions of the
Entomological Society of London for the year 1868,’ were on the table.
June 1, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors :—
*Verhandlungen der K. K. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien,’ vol. xvii. ;
presented by the Society. ‘Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung,’ 1868, Nos. 4—6; by
the Society. ‘On the Diurnal Lepidoptera of the Extra-tropical Northern Hemi-
sphere,’ by W. F. Kirby; by the Author. ‘The Odonat-Fauna of the Island of Cuba,’
by Dr. H. Hagen; by the Author. Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ No.18; by the Author.
‘The Zoologist’ for June; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine,’
for June; by the Editors.
The following addition, by purchase, was also announced: —C. G. Thomson,
‘Skandinaviens Coleoptera, vols. viii. and ix.
Election of Members.
G. P. Shearwood, Esq., of Cedar Lodge, Stockwell, was elected a Member;
Tl Cavaliere Franecfort, of Pallanza, Lago Maggiore, was elected a Foreign
Member. ;
Exhibitions, §c.
The Secretary announced that an exhibition of useful and destructive insects
would take place in the Palais de Industrie, at Paris, during the month of August.
The Committee of Management includes Dr. Boisduval, M. Guérin-Meéneville, and
other entomologists and scientific agriculturists. The exhibition is to be made as com-
prehensive as possible, the scheme including the propagation of useful insects, methods
of curing or preventing disease, and economical management; and the illustration of
destructive insects, with means for opposing their ravages. As regards destructive in-
sects, the Committee has determined on a practica) instead of a scientific classification,
the subdivisions being formed by the plants upon which the creatures feed. Foreigners
are invited to take part in the coming exhibition; applications to be sent in before
the 20th of July, to the Secretary of the Société d’Insectologie Agricole, No. 1, Rue
Cadette, Paris, or at the Palais de Industrie. The insects or other objects of
exhibition are to be sent in before the 25th of July, and the exhibition opens on the
Ist and closes on the 31st of August. The following are the principal heads of
classification:—First division—Useful insects:—Ist class, Silk-producing iusects ;
2nd class, Insects producing honey and wax; 3rd class, Insects used in dyeing and
XXIV
for colour; 4th class, Edible insects, crustacea and mollusks; Sth class, Insects
employed for medical use; 6th class, Insects used as ornaments. Second division—
Destructive insects:—Ten classes, viz. those which attack cereals, the vine, plants
used in industry, forage, vegetables and ornamental plants, fruit trees, forest trees,
timber used for building, truffles and fungi, dry organic matters, and, lastly, parasites
of man and domestic animals. The third division includes three classes—carnivorous
insects, parasitic insects; destructive of chrysalides; and insectivorous animals, birds
and reptiles. The fourth division includes—Insects and other creatures destructive of
mollusks; and notices respecting edible snails and the benefit that cultivators may
derive from them. Lastly, optical instruments for entomological purposes, and
special apparatus connected with the rearing or destruction of insects. Printed or
written memoirs are also to be admitted, even without specimens of the insects to
which they refer; and it is further announced that conferences will take place in the
exhibition on various subjects connected with “ insectology” [? Entomology].
Mr. M‘Lachlan exhibited the larva of a caddis-fly found by Mr. Fletcher, of
Worcester, crawling about the bark of willow trees: the case was like a Culeophora,
but the feet of the larva showed it to be Trichopterous, not Lepidopterous. Enacyla
[Enoicyla] pusilla, a species of which the female was apterous, had for some time
been known on the Continent to have a non-aquatic larva, and M. Snellen van Vollen-
hoven found the larve in great numbers at the Hague: this species had not yet been
found in Britain, but Mr. Fletcher’s larvee wee probably to be referred to it. It
would be interesting to ascertain how the larva breathed, whether or not by spiracles.
Mr. J. Jenner Weir called attention to the Report, in the ‘Journal of Horti-
culture’ for May 21, 1868, of the Proceedings of the Scientific Committee of the
Royal Horticultural Society, in which it was stated that on the 19th of that month
“Mr. Berkeley exhibited specimens of the larva of Coleophora hemerobiella, which
attacks the leaves of the pear and cherry, not as is usually the case by eating away the
whole substance, but by attaching themselves by their discoid suctorial mouth, and
extracting the sap from the parenchyma for some distance round the point of attack;
which when they have exhausted they leave, and commence an attack in another part of
the leaf, leaving a small hole similar to a leech bite. Finally they enclose themselves
in the leaf, which is rolled up into the form of a tiny cigarette.” Mr. Weir presumed
that no one of the entomologists attached to the Scientific Committee could have been
present at the promulgation of a statement so full of error.
Mr. Keays exhibited specimens of Psyche crassiorella from Hornsey Wood.
The Hon. T. De Grey exhibited pupx of Hypercallia Christierninana; the larve
were found on Polygala vulgaris between the 27th of April and the 22nd of May, near
Shoreham, and one became a pupa during the Meeting. The pupe were of a
beautiful bright green colour, attached by their hind extremity only to the sides of the
glass cylinder in which they were exhibited, aud were not suspended loosely by the
silken attachment, but rigidly fixed in an oblique position at an angle of about
60° to the side of the cylinder.
Mr. A. G. Butler (who was present as a visitor) exhibited a small and pale variety _
of Nemeobius Lucina, and a pair of Anthocharis Cardamines, all from Herne Bay.
Both sexes of A. Cardamines were remarkable for the largeness of the black spot on
the disk of the fore wings, and the male had a rudimentary tail to the hind wings.
QCE. 13, 1358 :
fa
XKV
Mr. Burmeister, jun. (who was present as a visitor), exhibited numerous drawings
of larve of Brazilian butterflies, and pupa-skins of many of them. Amongst the latter
was Ageronia Amphinome, remarkable for its pair of foliate appendages to the head,
which, however, did not contain the antenne of the butterfly : ‘this pupa was not dis-
tinguishable from other Nymphalid, and showed that the old authors who described
it as having a belt of silk round the middle were mistaken.
Mr. Burmeister also mentioned that he had found the larve of Castnia in the
bulbs or swellings at the foot of the stem of Orchids.
Mr. Edward Sheppard read the following extract from a letter written by
Mrs. Russell, of Kenilworth,—the beetle referred to being a Meloe:—
“An evening or two ago I watched a beetle for an hour in the garden ex-
cavating a hole in the earth of one of the beds, big enough to hold its own
large long body. It was evidently a female, full of eggs. It bit off little
pellets of earth from the rim of its hole and cast them away with its hind feet,
turning itself about in every direction, and working without a moment's cessation.
It had very large, thick antenne, and was plainly a very powerful creature, rolling
down pieces of the dry crumbling earth half as big as itself, and not minding them a
bit. Next morning I went to see the state of affairs, and found, to my astonishment,
the excavation completely filled up and smoothed over, as if some one had passed
their hand over the finely-powdered soil. Thinking it possible she might have buried
herself, I searched the place well with a stick, but there was no trace of her, and
I therefore conclude that she had been laying some eggs and covering them up.”
Prof. Westwood gave an account of his observations of Ateuchus sacer at Cannes,
and mentioned that during flight the elytra were perfectly horizontal and very slightly
open at the suture, so that the motion of the wings was confined within very narrow
limits. The action of the beetles in rolling along the ground the ball or pellet of dung
in which the female deposits her eggs was most curious: with head pressed down and
hind feet raised aloft, with its back to the pellet and moving backwards, one beetle
pushed and guided the ball with its hind legs, whilst another beetle clung to the ball,
and remaining motionless thereon was rolled over and over with it, sometimes upper-
most, sometimes undermost. [See the account of Ateuchus variolosus given by
“Tonicus” in ‘The Entomological Magazine,’ vol. iii. p. 377.]
Mr. Keays exhibited oak-leaves from Hornsey Wood, which were cut straight
across the middle, leaving only the midrib, and the outer halves then twisted and
rolled up by Attelabus Curculionoides, with a view to oviposition.
The Hon. T. De Grey exhibited specimens of Agapanthia Cardui, bred from
larve in stems of thistles.
Mr. A. G. Butler exhibited Otiorhynchus picipes, which had been found de-
structive to rose trees at Manchester, eating off the young shoots.
Paper read,
The following paper was read:—‘“ Descriptions of New Genera and Species of
Heteromera,” by Mr. Frederick Bates. Two new genera of Tenebrionide, from
Australia, were characterized under the names of Hypaulax and Chileone.
1D)
XXVI
New Part of * Transactions,
Trans. Ent. Soc., third series, vol. iv., part 5, published in May, completing that
volume, and containing Mr. A. R. Wallace’s Catalogue of Malayan Cetoniide, with
four coloured plates, was on the table.
July 6, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—
‘Proceedings of the Royal Society, Nos. 101 and 102; presented by the Society.
‘Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, No. 41; by the Society. ‘ Proceedings of
the Zoological Society, 1867, Part 3; by the Society. Hewitson’s ‘ Exotic Butter-
flies, part 67; by W. W. Saunders, Esq. Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ No. 19; by
the Author. ‘The Zoologist’ for July; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly
Magazine,’ for July; by the Editors. g
The following additions, by purchase, were also announced :—Panzer, ‘ Faune
Insectorum Germanice Initia” Sturm, ‘ Deutschland’s Fauna, Kafer ;’ vols. 9—22.
‘ Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, 1857—67. “
Exhibitions, &c.
Mr. M‘Lachlan mentioned that, out of twenty-one pupe of Hypercallia Christier-
ninana, he had bred nineteen of the perfect insect, and exhibited a dozen of them.
The pupe soon lost the beautiful bright green colour (ante, p. xxiv.), became for
a time pale dirty yellow or colourless, and finally assumed a rosy hue as the wings
of the imago made progress towards their full development.
Mr. H.J.S. Pryer exhibited a specimen of Halias quercana, from West Wickham,
with the wings unequally developed, one side being much shorter than the other.
Mr. Bond exhibited varieties of Setina irrorella and Arctia villica: the former was
captured near Croydon; its colour was pale, the ordinary rows of dots were very
indistinct, but there was a dark basal longitudinal mark, and a strong subapical dark
fascia: the latter was bred from one of a number of larve found at Wormwood Scrubs,
all of which were similarly treated, and, whilst the rest produced moths of the ordinary
type, the specimen exhibited was almost entirely of a deep rich fulvous colour, with a
few black marks on the costa of the fore wings, and but for its origin being known
could scarcely have been recognized as Arctia villica.
Mr. R. Davis, of Waltham Cross, Herts (who was present as a visitor) exhibited a
large collection of larve of Lepidoptera, admirably dried and preserved, and expressed
his desire to receive living larve from Lepidopterists in other paris of the country,
a portion of which, when preserved, he would return to the sender.
XXV11
Mr. 'T. W. Wood (who was present as a visitor) exhibited specimens and drawings
of several exotic species of Saturniide, and made some observations on their habits.
Saturnia Cynthia was remarkable for its attitude during repose, the wings being held
perfectly horizontal, without any external support, and widely expanded, the hind
wings being an inch or more apart. The attitude of S. Promethea and S. Cecropia
was very similar to that of a Papilio, and there were other strongly-marked points of
resemblance between the Saturniide and Papilionide, both in form and habits; for
instance, the gentle waving up and down of the wings, as if for display, as observed in
these moths, was more characteristic of diurnal than of nocturnal Lepidoptera: he had
kept a pair of S. Polyphemus alive for a considerable time, and found that they some-
times (particularly the female) rested after the manner of butterflies, but at other times
their wings were horizontal, a large portion of the hind wings, including the ocellus,
being hidden by the fore wings. Mr. Wood had also observed that these insects
possess a moveable appendage on the under side of the anterior tibia, which is used
as a comb for cleaning the antenne: he had many times seen the males of S. Pro-
methea use these appendages for that purpose; the large feathery antenna was
clasped at the base between the tibia and the comb, as between a finger and thumb,
and was drawn slowly through to the tip, being thereby effectually cleared of all dust
and scales or other foreign matters.
Prof. Westwood said that there was a similar appendage or plate on the fore tibie
of Papilio Machaon.
Mr. A. G. Butler (who was present as a visitor) exhibited Halia Vavaria and its
Dipterous parasite, a species of Tachina, bred from the pupe.
Mr. Bond, after referring to the cases recorded in Proc. Ent. Soc. 1865, pp. 103,
104, of several males of GXceticus and Micropteryx being discovered in simultaneous
sexual contact with one female of their own species, mentioned that Dr. Knaggs had
met with a still more remarkable case, inasmuch as he had found a male of Tortrix
viridana and a male of T. heparana in contemporaneous union with a female of
T. viridana. ;
Mr. Bond then exhibited a female of Drilus flavescens,—the third known British
specimen of that sex (vide ante, p. i.),—and two males of the same species, the trio
having been captured in copu/dé simultaned near Freshwater, Isle of Wight,
on the 12th of June, 1868, by Myr. H. Rogers, who had supplied the following
account:—
“T captured them on Friday, the 12th of June, at a place called Blackbridge,
Freshwater: they were on the high road, and first attracted my attention
through the female crawling along and dragging both males behind her. I
picked them up and closely examined them, and both males were in cop. with
her at the same time, and remained so for upwards of two hours; both left her
within ten minutes of each other. When I first saw them the males were quite
helpless.”
Mr. J. Jenner Weir exhibited a fine large Monochamus, which had flown into and
been captured in the London Custom House a few days previously.
Mr. Blackmore exhibited a collection of insects of all orders, captured in Tangier
in March and April, 1868. The greater part consisted of Coleoptera, in which
Tangier was very rich: during three years Mr. Rolfe had collected there 2700
XXVli
species, two-thirds of which had not previously been taken in Morocco, and of these -
a large proportion were new to Science.
The Secretary read Reports, dated 2nd December, 1867, 4th January and 22nd
April, 1868, by Dr. Bidie, the Government Commissioner for investigating the
ravages of the borer (Xylotrechus quadripes of Chevrolat) in the coffee-plantations of
Mysore and Coorg. (See Tr. Ent. Soc. 1868, p. 105; Proc. 1867, p. cix., 1868,
pp. li., xviii.) The following are extracts :—
“In the neighbourhood of Mercara, my attention was directed to another insect
called the Ringer: it chiefly attacks young plants, and lives in the ground at the foot
of the stem, coming up during the night and feeding on the bark. When a complete
circle uf bark is thus destroyed, the whole of the plant above that point dies, but the
root throws up shoots which in time become productive. The Ringer seems identical
with the black grub of the Ceylon plantations, which is the larva of the Dart Moth.
I have failed to get the grub to pass into the imago state, the shaking during my
travels having always proved fatal to it, but am quite sure that it is identical with
the English Agrotis segetum.
“Ina native garden in Veerajpettah I found twenty-year-old stems in which the
borer had been observed at work for five years at least, and various Coorgs have
informed me that they have noticed the borer occasionally during the last eight or
ten years. Two gentlemen engaged in planting have also told me that they now and
again found the borer in coffee trees upwards of four years ago. In many of the
native gardens I find that some Rodent (probably the coffee rat) has begun to destroy
the pupa and beetle, by cutting down and extracting them for food. Red ants also
to a small extent prey on the larva and pupa. :
“J am now trying to discover whether the white borer did or does exist in
indigenous trees.
“In Southern Coorg I have inspected thirty-eight estates belonging to Europeans,
and a large number the property of natives. The effect of forest clearance on climate
and its bearing on the immediate matter of my enquiry have received due attention.
I quite agree that the destruction of forests in Coorg has had an influence in making
the borer so prevalent and destructive to coffee. In other countries, such as America,
as the clearing of the natural forests has gone on, insects destructive to trees and
crops have vastly increased in numbers. In dense: primeval woods, the conditions of
light, heat and moisture are not favourable for the production of many of the insects
injurious to cultivated plants; and besides Nature in such situations maintains
enemies sufficient to keep them in check. When man comes in with his axe he
disturbs this natural balance, and his fields and gardens suffer in consequence. No
doubt also insects often attack cultivated plants when natural ones on which they
used to subsist have been exterminated. Forest clearance would also seem to increase
the number of many kinds of insects by producing various changes in local climate
conducive to their multiplication. The Coorgs think that the borer used to live in
the bambvo, but, owing to the death of that tree throughout the district during the
past year, it was no longer able to subsist in it, and has therefore attacked the coffee.
This general dying out of the bamboo, they say, occurs once in sixty years—that
being the term of its existence; but it seems strange that all the bamboos in Coorg
should be so exactly of the same age as to perish in a single year. I am investigating
KXiX
these statements, however, and will soon be in a position to say positively whether or
not they are founded on fact. Some think that the borer has increased from the
destruction or departure of insect-eating birds, consequent on the cutting down of
forest. Any one accustomed to jungle life knows that very few birds exist in dense
forest, and that if not disturbed they rapidly increase wherever there is a clearing
under cultivation. The comparative scarcity of birds in Coorg is doubtless caused by
the great amount of dense forest that exists, the severity of the monsoon, and the
destructive propensities of the Coorgs.
“ Tn various jungle trees and in the orange I have found larve which in appearance
-and mode of tunnelling have a strong resemblance to the coffee-borers, but, as a rule,
they differ from them in preferring dead to living wood. These and the coffee-borers
are all the larve of beetles or of moths. The white coffee-borer (now so destructive)
appears to belong to the genus Clytus.
“Since my last Report, I have found in coffee on native estates growing under
shade a small beetle belonging to the genus Tomicus, which bores the young
primaries and secondaries, causing them to turn black and perish. The perfect
insect is only about the size of a pin’s head, and yet it does a great deal of
damage to the young fruit-bearing wood. I have also seen on some estates a
locust very destructive to the foliage of the coffee, and thus causing a considerable
loss in crop.
“The discovery of measures to destroy or prevent the appearance of the borer has
of course formed the chief object of my solicitude, and although the peculiarities of
its natural history are such as to throw serious obstacles in the way, still I hope to
attain ultimately some measure of success. The fact of the insect being found in the
perfect form in every month of the year nearly precludes the idea of being able to
destroy it in the winged state; and the circumstance of its living as a grub and pupa
in the interior of the stem renders it very difficult to attack it in either of these stages
without destroying the tree. In the mean time I would recommend the covering of
the stems of the plants with clean fresh moss up to the terminal pair of primaries
from the surface of the ground. The moss should be about two inches in thickness
and secured with several bands of fibre, and if put on about the beginning of the
monsoon will live and become firmly banded round the stem in a short period, forming
a mechanical barrier that would prevent the beetle from reaching the bark to deposit
its eges. The mossing would no doubt to some slight extent affect the health of the
tree, but this would be largely compensated for by the protection that it would afford
from so deadly an enemy as the borer. I believe, too, that although the eggs of the
borer were deposited under the moss, its presence would prevent them from hatching.
The manner of applying the moss here proposed is exactly the same as that recom-
mended by Mr. M‘Ivor for the cinchonas, to increase the amount of alkaloids in their
bark. Coal-tar, pure or diluted with fish-oil, applied to the stems will also have the
effect of keeping away the beetles, its smell being most offensive to all insects.
I lately saw some trees to which tar had been applied nine months ago, and although
exposed to the monsoon the coating had not lost its odour, and the trees looked very
vigorous. I mention these facts because it has been said that the tar soon loses its
smell, and is also fatal to the coffee-tree. Lime-wash has been used on some estates,
but the great objections to its use are that it is washed away by the first showers
and scales off when the tree is shaken by the wind. I believe a mixture of
XXX
cow-dung and clay, like that used by the natives for the walls and floors of their
houses, would be more permanent and perhaps as effectual, while it would be much —
cheaper. |
“The coffee crop has turned out better than was anticipated, and this agreeable ~
surprise has led most planters to take a much more hopeful view of the future. I am
happy to report, too, that the borer does not seem to be on the increase in South
Coorg, but rather on the decline, as in most bored trees about five per cent. of the
insects found are dead. Still it is very difficult to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion
as to the state of the pest at present, as the insect is for the most part in the winged
state and not easily seen, and it is only as the dry weather begins to tell on the trees
that those tunnelled will show symptoms of the injury they have sustained. The
Rodent alluded to in my last continues to prey on the insect, cutting a hole
in the wood so as to reach its tunnel. It does not appear, however, to frequent
estates of large extent and free exposure, but to live in native gardens of limited
size, in which there is some shade and abundance of cover in the shape of under
growth.”
* * * * * * * * *
“There is a very destructive insect called by planters the charcoal borer, as it
frequently destroys the charcoal trees which are reared to give shade to the coffee. Its
presence in a tree is indicated by a lump on the stem of sawdust-like wood-powder,
matted together by silky fibres. On removing this the hole through which the insect
enters and ejects the morsels of wood will be seen, and it is generally large enough to’
admit the tip of the little finger. If the tree be now cut down and split open, tunnels
of the same size will be found running upwards and downwards from the external
opening, and the grub lying snug in the bottom of a burrow at the base of the stem.
The larva is from three to four inches long, thick, fleshy, and of a pale red colour. It
has six pectoral, eight ventral and two anal feet, and is a very powerful creature,
struggling violently in the hand, and attacking vigorously with its powerful jaws the
cork of a bottle in which it may be confined. The chrysalis is smaller and of a darker
red colour than the caterpillar, and rests about three months. Its abdominal segments
are furnished with transverse rows of minute reflexed spines, and some weeks before
the moth emerges, moved by some wonderful instinct, it pushes itself up by means of
these; and clears away the débris of the wood from the external opening, so that there
may be nothing to prevent the escape, of the perfect insect. Having completed this
task it once more descends to its former place, and rests until the moth arrives at
maturity, when the same contrivance is made use of again to enable the moth to
escape from the tunnel, within which it could never wriggle out of its case or develope
its wings. The moth measures about three and a half inches across the upper pair of
wings, which are much larger than the lower. Both pairs are of a grayish brown
colour, and the upper ones are clouded with brown. The antenne of the female
(I have not seen a male) are very short and filiform. The wings are deflexed in repose,
and furnished with a complicated series of strong nerves. The abdomen is elongated,
and the female, when touched, discharges with considerable force immense numbers —
of minute white round eggs, which shortly turn black, when they have the appearance
of very fine gunpowder. This moth belongs to the family Hepialide, and is closely
allied to the Hepialus humuli, or ghost moth of England. It is very common in the
Pee. ot
charcoal tree, and renders the stem so weak by ils tunnelling that it is apt to be
broken by the wind. In the monsoon, too, the rain enters by the exterior opening,
gets to the heart of the tree and causes it to rot. The larva may be killed by passing
a flexible wire into its burrow, and after this the hole should be closed witha soft
wooden peg.
“There is not a tree in our furests but is liable when dead to the attacks of boring
insects, and many in the living state, more especially if sickly, show traces of their
depredations. As regards the coffee-plant, any diminution of vigour in it, no matter
what the cause, renders it liable to the ravages of the borer, and the larva does not
find a suitable field in a vigorous and absolutely healthy plant. There seems no
reason to doubt, therefore, that one cause of the great prevalence of the borer of late
years has been a general want of vigour in the plants, At the same time it must be
stated that a vast majority of the trees that have died full of the borer’s tunnels would,
but for its ravages, have lived and might have been restored to a more healthy state.
The causes that produced this sickly condition were various, and seme of them must
have been very general, seeing that the borer has prevailed over such an extent of
country. Not only in the actual coffee districts, but in places at a considerable
distance from them—such as Hassan and Hoonsoor—lI have found the borer present
in coffee trees; occurrences that point to the reduction of vigour having been caused
in part by some climatic influence. From this and other facts I also infer, that the
borer beetle is a widely distributed insect, and indigenous to the country, as the
distance of the stations of Hoonsoor and Hassan from estates*infested with the borer,
and the open nature of the intervening country, preclude the idea of its having been
able to wing its way from the latter to the former. I cannot believe either that the
vva of this beetle could have been carried so far by man’s or any natural agency.
Concluding then that the borer beetle belongs to the insect Fauna of Southern India,
and is widely distributed, it can hardly be expected that it will ever disappear, and
although more favourable seasons and change of mode of cultivation may render coffee
in general less liable to, or proof against, its attacks, still it will ever be ready to prey
upon and destroy sickly plants. During a recent visit to the gardens on the Baba-
Booden, in which coffee was first cultivated in Southern India, I was informed by the
planter Ghaus Sha-Khadry that ‘he had known the borer there for thirty years.’ On
an estate in Nugur, too, in 1860, or eight years ago, no less than 60,000 plants were
destroyed by the borer. These facts also go to prove that the insect is an old and
permanent resident in the coffee districts of the Peninsulas When at Ghaus Sha-
Khadry’s plantations I saw coffee-plants growing in shade, seventy years old, and quite
healthy, and was told that about twelve years ago there were plots of coffee in the
open, the trees in which were ove hundred years uld. These have all since gradually
died out, and the owner attributes their death to extreme age, drought and borer. He
says that for twelve years back the seasons have gradually been getting drier and
hotter, until at the present time the climate is such as to render it impossible to grow
coffee trees in the open in that part of the country: there is much collateral evidence
to support this statement regarding gradual deterioration of climate all along these
Western Ghauts.
“TI have visited the chief estates in Munzerabad, and a few of the oldest and most
interesting in Nugur. In both these districts, all the planters I have seen are of
Opinion that coffee must in that quarter be cultivated under shade, trees in the open
XXxil
being liable to perish from the violence of the monsoon, drought, borer, &c. The
most of the estates therefore are under shade, and as those so protected have suffered
but litle from the borer as compared with the few in the open, I went over them with
great interest. The degree of shade isa point of great nicety and importance, too
much being prejudicial to the reproductive powers of the tree, and too little exposing
it to the effects of dronght and the attacks of the borer. The native cultivators were
the first to adopt this system, and there seems no doubt that they were led to do so by
experience. It is worthy of note, too, that the first English coffee planters in Southern
India followed their example, and that some of their estates, varying in age from
twenty-five to forty years, still yield large and certain returns to the owners. On the
whole, I entertain a very high opinion of the system of culture under shade, and think
it might be introduced with advantage in many parts of Coorg.”
Mr. M’Lachlan mentioned that the terrestrial Trichopterous larve exhibited at the
previous Meeting (ante, p. xxiv.), from which he had hoped to breed Eneecyla
pusilla, had unfortunately perished. |
Mr. A. E. Eaton exhibited numerous drawings and microscopical preparations of
the mouth and other parts of Cenis, Leptophlebia, Ephemerella and Oligoneuria—
with reference to the paper mentioned below.
Prof. Westwood exhibited two remarkable forms of Chalcidide, one from the —
Amazons, the other from Australia, both belonging to the Cleonymus group, and
possessing peculiar modifications and elongation of the abdominal segments, whereby
doubtless oviposition was facilitated. He proposed to describe each of them as the type
of a new genus; see below.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited two female specimens of Ophion macrurus (Drury, Exot.
Ins. i. pl. xliii. fig. 5), bred by Mr. Chapman, of Glasgow, from cocoons of Saturnia
Cynthia, which he had received from Mr. Angus, of New York. ‘The specimens were
alive when they reached Mr. Smith, and one of them stung him in the hand so severely
as to lead to the belief that poison was injected, but fortunately the pain was not lasting.
There were specimens of this Ichneumon in the British Museum from New York,
with a memorandum by Edward Doubleday “ parasitic on Bombyx Cecropia,” a North”
American species: if there were no mistake as to the species from which the exhibited
insects were bred, it was remarkable that the Asiatic Bombyx Cynthia should, so soon
after its introduction into America, have been attacked by the parasite of ils congener
B. Cecropia.
Mr. F. Moore did not consider that these parasites were restricted to a single
species. There was no doubt of the true Bombyx Cynthia having been introduced.
into America; and he had himself bred the same species of Ophion from B. Cynthia.
and B, Polyphemus.
The Secretary exhibited a spring wooden letter-clip, in the cavity between the
limbs of which was placed the nest of a wasp, probably an Odynerus. This was found |
in June, in Hants, in a box which lay open on a writing-table which was in constant)
use, though the clip had remained untouched; and was communicated by Sir J. Clarke
Jervoise, Bart., M.P.
The Secretary mentioned that petroleum oil, especially in the crude state, had i
France been found of great use in destroying insects: the petroleum was mixed wit
water, in the proportion of an ounce to half an ounce to a pint of water, but when
XXXIl
applied to fruit trees or delicate plants the quantity of oil was still less: a very weak
solution applied with a watering-pot, was said to be very efficacious against the larve
of the cockchaffer; and a strong solution, poured into the holes and down walls
infested by insects, was said to kill them rapidly. Another application of the solution
was to rid dogs and other animals of parasites; but the parts must be rubbed with
soap a few minutes after the solution was applied.
Papers read.
The following papers were read :—
“* Descriptions of new Genera and Species of Heteromera” (conclusion); by Mr. F.
Bates.
“On the Larva of Micropeplus Staphylinoides ;” by Sir John Lubbock, Bart.
“On some points in the Anatomy of the immature Cenis macrura of Stephens ;’
by Mr. A. E. Eaton.
“A Tabular Comparison of some Representative Species of Diurnal Lepidoptera
in Europe, India, and North America ;” by Mr. W. F. Kirby.
“In my paper on the geographical distribution of European Rhopalocera (Tr. Ent.
Soc. 3rd series, i. 481), 1 did not attempt any generalizations from the results arrived
at. It now appears to me that a Table showing the species common to Europe and
India, or North America, may be useful, with reference to the claims of representative
forms to be considered distinct. In some cases, as in Papilio Zelicaon, a named
representative is now allowed to be a variety; in others, as in Pyrameis Callirrhoe,
it is considered as indubitably a species. But my object is simply to start inquiry ;
T leave to others the decision of specific claims. A great number of European species
range through North Asia (those common to Europe and North Asia are indicated in
the Table by an asterisk), and I think it highly probable that many or most of these
will ultimately be found to extend to the north slope of the Himalayas. The absence
of continuous mountain chains*running north and south will account for their wide
distribution over Europe and North Asia. The South Indian Fauna is still very
imperfectly known, but it is probably more African or Australian in character, and
much poorer in species, than that of the North. My authorities for North Asia are
Ménétries and Bremer; for India, Horsfield and Moore’s Catalogue, and subsequent
papers by Mr. Moore; and for America, Morris’s Synopsis, published by the Smith-
sonian Institution. The letters N,S, E,W denote the points of the compass: H in
the Indian column indicates a Himalayan species.
Europe. Inp1a. Norra AMERICA.
* Papilio Machaon P. Machaon (H) P. Zelicaon (W)
*Pieris Brassice P. Nipailensis (N)
» Krueperi P. Glicirie
* » Rape P. Rape (N) P. Cruciferarum
» Callidice P. Kalora (H) P. Callidice ? (W)
* ,, Daplidice P. Daplidice (N)
Anthocharis Belia A. Belia (W)
* rs Tagis A. Daphalis (H)
*Colias Pelidne (N)
Fs ys i, NeeeteR (IN)
. Pelidne (N)
’. Nastes (N)
Cre
F
Europe.
Colias Phicomone
A jot.) dvale
Fae ME Tate
* ,, Chrysotheme (E)
» Hecla (N)
»» Myrmidone (N)
* ,, Edusa
*Gonepteryx Rhamni
Danais Chrysippus (E)
nme Aphirape
» Freya (N)
24 » Polaris (N)
» Chariclea (N)
as Lathonia
» Aglaia
» selene
Frigga (N)
apts C-album
*Vanessa Xanthomelas
*. V-album
* » Urtice
3 » Antiopa
Pyrameis Atalanta
* = Cardui
*Neptis Aceris (E)
Lasiommata Mera
o Menava
Hipparchia Thelephassa (E)
Epinephele Janira
a a Lycaon
Ccenonympha Pamphilus
* i Davus
*Chionobas Jutta (N)
= Taygete (N)
* “ Also (N)
55 Polixenes (N)
*Thecla Rubi
eee as Phlceas
Re Dorilis
Polyommatus Beeticus (8S)
a x Tiresias (S)
* a Argiolus
5 Optilete
* ‘5 Semiargus
i Egon
Se)
5SaQo0
<
BPH ot eae
«
FP.
ve
C.
XXXIV
InbIA.
. Hyale
. Erate (N)
Myrmidone? (H)
Fieldii (H)
. Nipalensis (H)
. Chrysippus
. Isseea (N)
. Xanthomelas (H)
. Kaschmirensis (N)
. Antiopa (N)
. Callirrhoe (N)
. Cardui
. Aceris
. Schakra (N)
. Menava (N)
. Baldiva (H)
. Cheena (A)
. Davendra (H)
Timens
Beticus
Tiresias
NortH AMERICA.
C. Phicomone
C. Hyale
. Eurytheme
. Hecla ? (N)
Que
Amphidusa (W)
Rhamni (W)
See
. Aphirape (N)
. Freya (N)
. Polaris (N)
. Chariclea (N)
> > > p>
. Aglaia
Myrina
. Frigga (N)
. Comma
a> > >
V. J-album
V. Milberti
V. Antiopa
P. Atalanta
P. Cardui
. Inornata (W)
. Davus (W)
. Jutta (N)
. Taygete (N)
. Semidea (N)
. Polixenes (N)
. Dumetorum (W)
. Americanus
. Epixanthe
Gio = eee © @
. Pseudargiolus
. Filenus
. Xerces (W)
. Antegon (W)
vis fidas pane hao]
Europe. Inpta. Norru AMERICA.
*Polyommatus Amandus P. Icarioides (W)
| FA Pheretes P. Pheres (W)
| i Lysimon P. Lysimon
*Pampbila Sylvanus P. Sylvanus (W)
| % Comma P. Comma (W)
i “Tt will be noticed that whenever a European genus occurs in India or North
America at all, European species, or very closely allied forms, are also to be found in
hose countries. South or East European species frequently extend to India, North
uropean species frequently reach America, while Central European species extend
hroughout North Asia, and only in a few instances reach North America, and are
hen usually confined to the West coast. Indeed almost every species common to the
Nd World and North America is either Polar or Californian.
| “There is still considerable doubt whether the European species of Colias, &c.,
Which are reputed North American do actually occur there, or whether allied species may
hot have been mistaken for them. It is also asserted, but I believe without authority,
hhat the common Vanessz have been introduced into North America; but this is highly
improbable, as they-are all wide-ranging insects, and do not feed on garden plants.
“ Pieris Brassice is replaced by P. Cheiranthi in the Canaries, and by P. Brassi-
vides in Abyssinia. P. Rape has been lately introduced into Canada. May not
Anthocharis Creusa be an American variety of the widely distributed and very variable
a Belia? A. Ausonia is the only variety of Belia which I know to occur in America;
loes it, or any other variety of this species, occur in North Asia? Gonepteryx
Jleopatra appears distinct from G. Rhamni. Is G. Cleobule, from the Canaries,
listinct from G. Cleopatra? The European Colias Myrmidone is very distinct from
J, Edusa; I doubt the occurrence of the true Myrmidone in India. Perhaps the
termediate Indian form may indicate that these two should be united, as Parnassius
Apollo and P. Delius, though perfectly distinct in Europe, appear to blend completely
ato each other in Siberia. Is Lasiommata Menava sufficiently distinct from L. Hiera?
dipparchia Baldiva has been erroneously placed in the genus Lasiommata or Amecera.
olyommatus Beticus and Telicanus are among the very few species common to
urupe and South Africa; P. Pheretes is represented in North-East Asia by the
lar. (?) P. Pheretiades.”
“ Descriptions of new Genera and Species of Chalcidide.” By Prof. Westwood.
“The following species of Chalcidide are remarkable for their gigantic size in
lomparison with the great majority of the family to which they belong, and for the
ingular modification in the structure of several of their important organisms.
PELECINELLA, nov. gen.
Callimomi affine. Corpus Q longissimum, fere filiforme. Caput subglobosum.
\ntenne thoracis longitudine, 11-articulate, articulis 2do et 30 minutis, 4to longo
ubcompresso, reliquis sensim decrescentibus. Collare capite duplo longius, valde
agustatum. Abdomen longissimum, gracillimum, segmentis 2do et 30 parum cras-
loribus, reliquis compressis; apice lobis 2 magnis foliaceis terminato. Oviductus
oe
XXXV1 |
exserlus, fere abdominis longitudine, curvatus. Ale@ antice ramo stigmatico fen
punctiformi. Pedes 4 antici graciles; 2 postici apice tibiarum et articulo basal
tarsorum dilatatis.
Pelecinella phantasma, n. sp.
P. nigra, abdomine chalybeo, punctulata; collaris lateribus rufis, abdomine nitido
pronoto, metanoto et petivlo transverse striatis, segmento sequente purpureo; ali:
translucidis; tarsorum posticorum articulis 4 apicalibus albis. Long. corp. lin, 12
exp. alar. lin. 73. Hab. ad ripas flum. Amazonum (D. Bates). In Mus. Hopeiana
Oxoniz.
THAUMASURA, nov, gen.
Cleonymo et Epistenia affine. Antenne graciles, 1l-articulate; articulo 2d¢
mediocri, 30 minuto, 4to longo, reliquis sensim attenuatis. Thorax subovalis. Abdo:
men segmentis 5 basalibus brevibus, massam ovalem fingentibus, 2 apicalibus gracil:
limis, tubulum capite et thorace duplo longiorem pro receptione oviductus formantibus
Ale antice ramo stigmatico brevi, apice furcatv. Femora compressa, tarsi simplices
Oviductus abdomine a 4ta parte longior. .
Thaumasura terebrator, 0. sp.
T. purpureo-chalybea, punctata, metathoracis lateribus et abdominis basi cupreo
tinctis, antennarum articulis intermediis pedibusque rufis; alis anticis substigmate
fusco, parum nebulosis; abdominis segmento 6to 5 precedentibus simul sumptis
longitudine quali, 7mo longiore et tenuiore; tibiis posticis curvatis, serrulatis,
Long. capitis thoracis et segm. 5 basal. abdom. lin. 5; segm. 2 apical. abdom. lin. 7;
exp. alar. lin. 93. Hab. in Australasie part. austral. In Mus. Hopeiano Oxonia
(olim nostro).
SoLENURA, Dov. gen,
Thaumasure affine. Antenne capite vix duplo longiores, 11-articulate, apicem
versus paullo crassiores, articulo 2do parvo, 30 minuto. Corpus breve, compactum,
Abdomen segmentis 3 basalibus massam elongato-ovalem thoraci longitudine equalem
formantibus, reliquis tubulatis, 4t0 3 basalibus simul sumptis longitudine equali,
cylindrico, Sto precedente duplo breviore, 6to 4 basalibus simul sumptis equalli,
7mo minuto. Terebra paullo ultra abdominis apicem extensa. Pedes breves,
simplices.
Solenura telescopica, n. sp.
S. chalybea, punctatissima, abdomine purpnrasvente, segmentis 30 et sequentibus
carina media distinctis; antennis nigris, pedibus obscure rufis; alis immaculatis.
Long. capitis thoracis et segm. 3 bagal. abdom. lin. 4; segm. 4 apical. abdom. lin. 7;
exp. alar. lin. 7. Hab. Java (D. Horsfield ?). In Mus. Hopeiano Oxonie. ;
EvcHanissa, nov. gen.
Eucharidi affine. Caput transversum, antice dense lanatum. Antenne eapit
duplo longiores, 16—22-articulate, serrate. Thorax subglobosus. Abdomen brevis
simum, petiolo brevi. Pedes breves, simplices.
le tte turbam innumerabilem Chalcididarum hoc genus antennis mull
articulatis unice gaudet.
XXXVIi
Eucharissa speciosa, n. sp-
E. antennis 22-articulatis, nigris; capite et thorace lxte viridibus, hoc transverse
striato; abdomine et pedibus luteis, femoribus et petiolo obseurioribus; alis pallide
fuscescentibus. Long. eorp. lin. 4; exp-alar. lin. 10. Hab. ad Caput Bone Spei.
Mecum communieaverunt DD. Klug (Eucharis speciosa, Klug, MS.) et Spinola.
Eucharissa Natalica, w. sp.
E, antennis 16-articulatis, nigris; enea, areolato-punctata; abdomine nigro,
nitido, postice luteo, pedibus albidis, femorum basi fusca. Long. corp. lin. 25; exp.
alar. lin. fere 6. Hab. in Natalia. In Mus. Hopeiano Oxoniz (olim nostro).”
November 2, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors :—
* Proceedings of the Royal Soeiety,’ No. 103; presented by the Society. ‘ Transactions
of the Linnean Society, Vol. xxvi. Part 1; ‘Journal of the Linnean Society,’ Zoology,
Nos. 42 and 43; by the Society. ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Index,
1848—1860; and 1868, Parts t and 2; by the Society. ‘Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society,’ Second Series, Vol. iv. Part 2; by the Society. ‘Annales de la
Société Linnéenne de Lyon,’ N.S., Tome xv., 1867; by the Society. ‘ Bulletin de la
Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou,’ 1867, Nos. 3 and 4; by the Society.
‘ Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, Vol. xii. Parts 1 and 2; by the Entomological
Society of Berlin. ‘Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, 1868, Nos. 7—9; by the
Society. ‘Journal of the Quekett Microscopical ;Club,’ Nos. 1—3; by the Club.
Hewitson’s ‘ Exotie Butterflies,’ Part 68; by W. W. Saunders, Esq. ‘ Coleopterolo-
gische Hefte, herausgegeben von E. v. Harold, ii. and iii.; by the Editor, Newman’s
* British Moths,’ Nos. 20—23; by the Author. ‘The Zoologist,’ August to November ;
by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, August to November; by
the Editors.
The following additions by purchase were also announced :—Schiner, ‘ Diptera der
Novara Reise.’ Redtenbacher, ‘ Coleoptera der Novara Reise.’ Tournier, ‘ Descrip-
tion des Dascillides du Bassin du Léman.’ Gersticker, ‘Bericht der Entomologie
wahrend der Jahre 1865 und 1866.’ ‘ Catalogus Coleopterorum hucusque descriptorum
Synonymicus et Systematicus;’ autoribus Dr. Gemminger et B. de Harold; Tom. i.,
Cicindelidz, Carabide. F. Walker, ‘Catalogue of Heteropterous Hemiptera in the
British Museum, Parts 1 and 2; ‘ Catalogue of Blattariz in the British Museum.”
A. G. Butler, ‘ Catalogue of Satyride in the British Museum,’
G
XXXV11i
Exhibitions, &c.
The President exhibited specimens of Vanessa Urtice and Zygena Filipendule
from the Isle of Man, remarkable for their small size. The following note by the
eaptor, Mr. Edwin Birchall, was read :—
“T captured about twenty specimens of Vanessa Urtice in the Isle of Man in June
last, all of the same diminutive size as the examples sent for exhibition. The outline
of the wings is more angular than in English specimens, the black spots either larger
in proportion, or in the case of the two spots in the centre cf the fore wings, actually
larger in the small insects from the Isle of Man than in the large English ones, the
variation from the typical form being thus exactly the reverse of what occurs in the
Corsican subspecies Ichneusa, in which these spots are altogether wanting. Whether
some accidental cause has dwarfed the inseets, or that we have here a distinct insular
variety, and the opportunity, as it were, of watching the origination of a new species,
future inquiry must decide. Zygena Filipendule also occurs in a very dwarfed con-
dition: this I have observed both in 1867 and 1868, and the specimens exhibited are
certainly the ordinary condition of that insect in the island. I hope entomologists,
who may visit the Isle of Man will collect other common species found there, as well
as the rare ones for which it has become celebrated, that a wider basis for generaliza-
tion than at present exists may be obtained.”
Mr. F, Smith inquired whether Vanessa Urtice was always thus dwarfed in the
Isle of Man, or whether the smallness was one of the effects of the peculiarly hot
season of 1868? He believed that during the past season many Hymenoptera had
been observed in a dwarfed condition.
Mr. J. Jenner Weir had noticed that the eommon white butterflies of the past
season were unusually small.
Prof. Westwood remarked that the diminutive size might perhaps be due to the
heat, and the consequent rapidity of development of the insects, which remained a
shorter time, and therefore ate less, in the larva state.
Mr. R. L. Davis (who was present as a visitor) mentioned that he had a number
of pupe of Smerinthus ocellatus of very small size: the larve had searcely attained
more than half their usual growth when they were driven into the pupa state by the
frost destroying their food, According to his experience, scarcity of food was generally
the cause of smallness. During the season of 1868 he had preserved for the cabinet
larve of about sixty-five species of Lepidoptera, most of which (including some of the
diminutive Smerinthus ocellatus) were exhibited.
Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a specimen of Choerocampa Celerio captured at Brighton
by Mr. Swaysland, on the evening of the 20th of September, hovering over Verbena
flowers; and a moth from the British collection of the late Mr. Desvignes, ticketted
‘““immoraria, Zub.,” which it was suggested was an extraordinary variety of Strenia
clathrata. .
The Secretary read a letter from Gunner John Wilson, of the Royal Artillery,
Woolwich, stating that he had bred a gynandromorphous specimen of Lasiocampa
Quercus: “it shows the chocolate wings and feathered antenna of the male on the
Jeft side; on the right the wings are buff, and the antenna is single as in the female,
the abdomen thicker and not tufted as on the other.”
XXX1X
Mr. T. W. Briggs (who was present as a visitor) exhibited a Leucania captured at
Folkestone on the 15th of August, at sugar; a second specimen, much worn, was
taken in the second week of October, within five yards of the same place. The insect
appeared to_differ from any species hitherto recorded as British.
Mr. H. Pryer exhibited a specimen of Scoparia Zelleri (Wocke), captured in the
railway station at Norwood Junction, on the 17th of August, 1867. This was the first
occurrence of the species in Britain; but the capture of a second specimen is announced
in the ‘ Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine,’ vol. v. 131.
Mr. G. S. Mosse exhibited a,collection of insects from the State of New York:
they were principally Lepidoptera, and amongst them was a female of Papilio Turnus,
which, contrary to the usual habit, was coloured like the male.
Mr. H. Pryer exhibited a specimen of Agrypnia picta (Kolenati), a new addition
to the list of British Trichoptera. The insect, a male, was captured at a gas-lamp at
Highgate, in June, 1868.
Mr. Frederick Smith read the following note:—“‘ The Secretary has called my
attention to the fact that the name Céstropsis, under which [ described a new genus
of Aculeate Hymenoptera in the ‘ Transactions’ of the Society for the present year
(Tr. Ent. Soc. 1868, p. 253), has been applied by Dr. Brauer, during the present year,
to a genus of Trichoptera (Verh. zool.-bot. Gesells. Wien, 1868, vol. xviii. p. 263). As
Dr. Brauer’s paper was published before mine, I have now to propose for my new
genus of Aculeata the name Gastropsis, from the resemblance which the insect bears
to the Gastrus equi of Meigen, the Céstrus equi of old authors.”
The President read a letter from Mr. Albert Miiller, of Penge, to the following
effect: —‘ As regards British galls, Mr. H. Waring Kidd, of Godalming, and I are
jointly working at a descriptive list of all excrescences or deformations caused by insect
_ agency on plants growing wild or cultivated in these islands; and fur the guidance of
such persons as may be willing to aid us, a list of such plants has appeared in the
‘ Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine’ for October. Foreign galls and their insects, as
well as the economy of the latter, form the special study of the writer, who will at all
times be happy to enter inio correspondence with any one desirous to further the object
in view, either by contributing specimens or by giving information of any kind: this
pursuit is intended to lead, at some future time, to the production of a work similar to
the one proposed by my late friend Mr. Wilson Armistead, of Leeds.”
Mr. Roland Trimen sent (from the Cape of Good Hope) some sketches of an
Orthopterous insect, respecting which he wrote as follows :—“ It is sometimes found in
gardens about Cape Town. The extraordinary development of the parts of the mouth,
particularly of the labrum and mandibles, makes me think it may be allied to the
Australian genus Anostostoma of G. R. Gray, with which, however, I am unacquainted.
I imagine this Cape cricket to belong to the Gryllide; but as my specimen has no
trace of wings, it is very probably only a larva, and may result in a member of the
Achetide. I shall be very glad to hear anything that you can ascertain about this
ugly fellow, especially if the special use of such formidable mouth-armature be known.
1 tried my captive with leaves, but he would not touch them.”
Prof. Westwood said the insect was an Anostostoma, or was nearly allied thereto:
it might be the species figured by Stoll. [See Charlesworth’s Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i.
p- 143 ]
With reference to the plague of so-called “ mosquitoes” at Plumstead and Wool-
xl
wich, in the months of July and August, the Secretary mentioned that in the latter
month he had had sent to him from Woolwich two insects, each of which was alleged
to be the delinquent. The first was a golden-eye (Chrysopa)! The other was a
veritable gnat, and was pronounced by Mr. F. Walker to be the Culex nemorosus, a
species often troublesome in woods, though not usually found in houses. Mr. F. Smith
added that specimens of the commen house-guat (Culex ciliaris) had been sent to the
British Museum as “ the mosquito.”
The Secretary read a letter from Mr. R. W. Fereday, of Christchurch, New Zealand,
requesting contributions of specimens, with a view to the formation of a collection of
British inseets for the Museum there; and a letter from Mr. H. L. Schrader, of
Shanghai, containing observations on various insects (Agathia, Giceticus, Cerura,
Actias, Syrphus, Psylla, &c.).
Papers vead.
The following papers were read:—‘ Notes on some South-African Butterflies
enumerated in Mr. A. G. Butler’s Catalogue of Satyride in the British Museum ;” by
Mr. Roland Trimen.
“Contributions to a Knowledge of the European Trichoptera” (First Part); by
Mr. R. M‘Lachlan.
“Descriptions of new Genera and Species of Heteromera;” by Mr. Frederick
Bates.
(See ‘ Transactions’ for 1868, Part 4.)
New Parts of * Transactions.’
The ‘Transactions’ of the Society for the year 1868, Parts 2 and 3, published i in
July and September respectively, were on the table.
November 16, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Donations to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted ¢o the donors:-—
* Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,’ Vol. xi., sheets 7—30; and
“ Memoirs read before the Boston Society of Natural History,’ Vol. i. Part 3; presented
by the Society. ‘Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, Vol. viii.
Nos. 15—17; by the Lyceum. ‘Proceedings of the Essex Institute,’ Vol. v.
Nos. and 6; by the Institute. ‘Proceedings of the Entomological Society of
Philadelphia,’ Vols. ii., iii, and vi. Part2; by the Society. ‘Transactions of the
American Entomological Society,’ Vol. i. Nos. 1—4; by the Society. ‘The Butter-
flies of North America, by Wm. H. Edwards, Part 1; by the Author. Holmgren,
‘Monographia Tryphonidum Suecia’ and ‘Monographia Ophionidum Suecie ;’
Curtis's ‘Guide to an Arrangement of British Insects ;? by J. W. Dunning.
Exhibitions, &c.
Mr. Bond exhibited a specimen of Tapinostola Elymi, captured on the Norfolk
coast, near Yarmouth ; a variety of Dianthacia capsincola, bred in 1867 by Mr. Noah
xlt
Greening, at Warrington, having the wings on one side abnormally coloured ; seven
_ specimens of Polia nigrocincta, bred in 1868 by Mr. Greening, from larve found
in the Isle of Man, and the earthern case in which one of the pupe had been
enclosed.
Prof. Westwood announced that the Leucania exhibited by Mr. Briggs at the
previous Meeting (ante, p. xxxix.) had proved to be L. albipuncta, W. V., a species
new to the British list.
Mr. M‘Lachlan read extracts from the ‘Canadian Entomologist, one recording
the occurrence of Papilio Machaon in the Hudson’s Bay Territory, the other relating
to the naturalization in North America of Pieris Rapz, which, recently introduced
into Canada, had already spread southwards into Maine and Vermont.
Mr. Bond mentioned the occurrence of a swarm of beetles in Cambridgeshire.
A correspondent, writing from Whittlesford on the 30th of September, 1868, said :—
“‘Within the last few days, the road, the foot-path, the grass and the hedges from my
house for about three-quarters of a mile, have been covered with them: there must be
bushels of them, and although we have had showers, their numbers do not diminish.”
The species in question was Gastrophysa polygoni.
Mr. M‘Lachlan exhibited larva-cases, and specimens of both sexes of the imago
{winged males and wingless females) of Encecyla pusilla, bred by Mr. Fletcher, of Wor-
cester, an interesting addition to the list of British Trichoptera. The larve were
terrestrial in their habits, feeding in mosses growing on the bark of trees, and had not
any external respiratory organs.
Prof. Westwood exhibited drawings in detail of some remarkable forms of Hy-
menoptera. Amongst them were three new species of Trigonalys, two from the
Amazons, one from Ceylon; a singular insect from the Amazons, the type of a new
genus Nomadina; and a still more abnormal form from Hayti, to which the name
Sibyllina znigmatica was given, which Mr. F. Smith had regarded as an ant,
_ Mr. Haliday as one of the Sphegidz, whilst Prof. Westwood thought it more nearly
allied to the Vespide; its long twelve-jointed filiform antenne (in the female),
notched or kidney-shaped eyes, the tri-lobed lower lip, and the flat wings (not folded
longitudinally), seemed to connect it with the last-mentioned family. (See ‘ Trans-
actions’ for 1868, p. 327.)
Mr. F. Smith thought the insect had more characters in accordance with those of
the ants than with those of any other family, and it certainly never occurred to him
that it was a wasp. The notched eye was found in Mutillide and Trypoxylon; and
there were none of the Vespidz in which the prothorax was not continued down to the
insertion of the wings, in which character Sibyllina agreed with the Sphegide.
December 7, 1868.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
The Secretary announced the death of Prof. Boheman, an Honorary Member of
the Society: he died at Stockholm on the 2nd of November, at the age of seventy-two
_ years.
xh
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors: —
‘Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 1867; presented by the Society.
‘Journal of the Linnean Society;’ Zoology, No. 44; by the Society. ‘ Stettiner
Entomologische Zeitung,’ Vol. xxix. Nos. 10—12; by the Society. ‘ Memoires sur
la Famille des Carabiques,’ and twenty-six other Papers, by the Baron M. de Chau-
doir; by the Author. ‘Etudes sur la Parthénogenése,’ par Félix Plateau; by the
Author. ‘A short Campaign against the White Borer (Xylotrechus quadrupes,
Chevrolat,) in the Coffee Districts of Coorg, Munzerabad and Nuggur, by Lieut.-Col.
C. P. Taylor; by the Author. Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ No. 24; by the Author.
‘The Zoologist’ for December; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Monthly
Magazine’ for December; by the Editors.
The following additions, by purchase, were also announced: —‘ Genera des
Coléoptéres d’Europe,’ livr. 137—144. ‘Record of Zoological Literature,’ 1867,
(Entomolegical Part). :
—
Llection of Members.
A. G. Butler, Esq., of the British Museum, and Dr. F. Buchanan White, of Perth,
were elected Members.
Exhibitions, &c.
The Secretary announced that an exhibition of bees would be held at Milan, from
the 10th to the 13th of the month, and would comprise a collection of all kinds of
bees, honey, and instruments and utensils employed in apiculture, for which various
prizes would be distributed. A silver medal was also offered for the best mode of
taking the honey without destroying the bees.
Mr. Bond exhibited two specimens of Limenitis Sibylla, negroes, entirely black on
the upper side; and three specimens of Polyommatus Adonis, one of which, a male,
was remarkable for its extremely small size, another bore on the under side of the fore
wings a number of broad bars of black, whilst the third, a female, was partly coloured
like the male, the upper surface of the wings being dashed with bright blue, not
shading off into the brown, but clearly and sharply defined.
Mr. Bond also exhibited the gynandromorphous specimen of Lasiocampa Quercus
bred by Mr. Wilson, and mentioned at the Meeting of November 2nd (ante,
p- XXxviii.).
Mr. Dutton exhibited a Catocala Fraxini, captured in an empty house at East-
bourne in August last.
Mr. Edward Saunders sent for exhibition a specimen of Crambus myellus
(Hiibner), a species new to Britain. It was found by Mr. N. E. Brown, on a blade
of grass, near Aberdeen, in July last; and was nearly allied to C. pinetellus.
Prof. Westwood exhibited drawings, and read descriptions, of several exotic
Hymenoptera belonging to the genus Aulacus. (See ‘Transactions’ for 1868,
p- 327.)
Paper read.
A paper “On the Application of the Law of Priority to Genera in Eutomelogy,”
by Mr. W. F. Kirby, was read by the Secretary.
xlit
The author observed that a very large number of the generic names now eurrent
are applied exclusively to insects which the proposers of the names in question never
indicated as their types of the genera, to the exclusion of the real types, whieh were
frequently placed even in other families. He presumed, and regarded it as an
“axiom,” that where no figure or other indication of type was given, the insect placed
at the head of the genus was to be considered as the type, and that the first section of
a genus was always to be considered typical. Thus Linneus always placed the
species Priamus at the head of his genus Papilio, and that species must be taken to
be the type of Papilio: the consequence would be that Ornithoptera (Botsduval, 1836)
would sink, and the present genus Papilio would receive the next oldest name,
Amaryssus (Dalman, 1816), with Machaon for its type. Numerous other instances
were given, to show the vast changes in the current nomenclature of Rhopalocera that
would be required by a strict application of the law of priority to genera; the object
of the author being to invite diseussion, and ascertain the opinion of naturalists as to
the desirability of attempting so to apply the law. He recommended that in future
the type species of every genus should be indicated by some symbul, so that that
species should always remain in the genus, however much the latter might afterwards
be subdivided. Mr. Kirby, though he considered that an author was at liberty, when
subdividing a genus of his own, to apply the name to any group of species comprised
in it, provided be had not himself indicated any type, yet did not think it allowable
for an author, in subdividing a genus of another author, to apply the name to any but
the first section; and (if no type had been indicated by the first author) the first
species of the first seetion must be taken as the type of the restrieted genus. In con-
clusion, Mr, Kirby alluded to some difficulties in specific nomenclature; where the
sexes of an insect had been deseribed under different names simultaneously, he thought
the rule was that the name given to the male should stand, whether that sex happened
to be described a few pages before the female, or vice versa.
The President doubted whether there was any such rule as that which was the
whole foundation of Mr. Kirby’s proposed revolution in generic nomenclature,
namely, that the first species in a genus was to be deemed the type; and if any such
rule were to be adopted for the future, it did not follow that it ought to be applied to
the past: to give such a rule a retrospective operation would be productive of the
greatest confusion and inconvenience.
Prof. Westwood had many years ago expressed the view, that where an author has
by means of dissections, figures, or in any other way, indicated the particuiar species
which he regards as typical of the genus, or which may be deemed to be the best
embodiment of the idea upon which the genus is founded, that species is of course the
type, and must be treated as such by subsequent authors; but where no such indication
is given by the founder, the first species in the genus is to be taken as the type, and
ought to be so taken in any subsequent dismemberment or division of the genus. But
the adoption of such a rule and the application of it retrospectively would eause so
much confusion that the remedy would be worse than the disease; and he should be
extremely sorry to see Mr. Kirby’s theory carried into practice, to the subversion of
established nomenelature.
Mr. A. G. Butler discussed several of the particular instances mentioned by
Mr. Kirby, and dissented from his conclusions. He argued that Papilio of Linneus
was not a genus, but included the whole of the butterflies ; Linnzus’s generic divisions
?
xliv
were his Equites, Plebeii, &c. Fabricius did describe genera, and usually indicated his.
type species: he was the first to describe Papilio as a genus, Priamus was not the type
of the Fabrician Papilio, but the insects now known by the name Papilio did come
within that genus as limited by Fabricius.
My. Pascoe thought that Linnzus and the older authors had no types at all: the
notion of a type-species was of modern date: he saw no ground whatever for regarding
the first species in a genus as the type: his notion was to discover the species which,
at the time when the genus was first named, was, by reason of its size or its abundance
er any other circumstance, most prominent amongst those which the author grouped
together under the same name, and ¢éhat inseet he took to be the type of the genus.
That the first species in the list could not be the type was conclusively shown by the
fact that, in successive editions of his works, Fabricius in many instances placed
different species at the head of the same genus, probably without any other guiding
principle than that of putting the largest species at the head; the largest species of
yesterday was deposed in favour of the later but larger discovery of to-day.
Mr. Stainton agreed with the previous speakers that the rule of priority eould not
be applied to genera in the manner suggested by Mr. Kirby; and he did not think
that, in the absence of indication, the first species in a genus was necessarily the type.
Take, for instance, the genus Tryphena, of which almost every one would be ready to
admit that Pronuba was the type; yet in almost every list the species Orbona was
placed first, and Pronuba came about the middle of the genus. When the author has
not indicated any particular species or section of his genus as typical, the subsequent
author who subdivides the genus has the right to determine to what section of the old
genus the old name shall be restricted, and his determination on that point ought to
bind all future writers.
Mr. Janson agreed that the subsequent author has the right to allot the original
name to any division of the original genus, but if he does so it is rather as a matter of
courtesy to the original author than of right on the part of the latter to have the
original name retained. Suppose the original description of Aleochara by A. is silent
as to the tarsi; B. on revising the species congregated under that name finds a group
of fifty species with four-jointed tarsi, and another group of fifty species with five-
jointed tarsi; B. is at liberty, if out of courtesy to A. he chooses to do so, to retain the
name Aleochara for either of the groups, though neither group is the Aleochara of A. ;
but since neither group alone is the Aleochara of A., B. is equally at liberty to give,
and is logically more correct in giving, a new name to each of the groups, and so
discard Aleochara altcgether.
Mr. Frederick Sinith (who observed that, on Mr. Kirby’s prineiple, the honey-bee
would cease to be an Apis), Mr. Edward Sheppard, Mr. J. Jenner Weir and Mr.
M‘Lachlan, also remarked upon the intolerable inconvenience which would ensue
from any attempt to put in practice the views advanced by Mr. Kirby.
With reference to the question of specific nomenclature, Prof. Westwood certainly
understood the rule to be that, where the two sexes of one insect were contempo-
raneously described under two names, upon the ascertainment of their specific identity,
the name of the female was dropped and that of the male was retained as the name of
the species.
Mr. M‘Lachlan inquired what was to be done when in different parts of the same
book (not being a periodical, but issuing from the press in its entirety and complete)
xl
the same insect is described, or two forms which ultimately prove to be the same
species and of the same sex are described, under two different names: both names
being published at the same moment, neither can be said to have priority over the
other.
Mr. Wormald thought that, under such circumstances, the less appropriate name
of the two should be rejected ; or if one of the described forms was the ordinary form
of the insect and the other a mere variety, the name given to the ordinary form should
be retained.
Mr. Dunning suggested that to this special case also were applicable all the
reasons which in ordinary cases had necessitated the introduction of the artificial and
conventional law of priority. ‘he priority contemplated by that rule was doubtless
priority in point of time, and not of place or position; but when there was perfect
simultaneity, the ordinary rule of priority failed, and required to be supplemented by
some other and additional rule of easy and absolute application. Time failing to
answer the purpose, space may serve to supply a criterion. Though p. 5 and p. 50 are
published together, the former is before the latter; and in the case supposed the law
of priority in point of time may conveniently be supplemented by a secondary law of
priority in respect of place.
Reverting to generic nomenclature, Mr. Dunning thought the result of the dis-
cussion might be summed up as follows :—(1) that the prevailing opinion was against
the existence of any such rule as that supposed by Mr. Kirby—that the first species in
a genus was the type; (2) that the Members present were unanimously adverse to the
retrospective application of any such rule, which, if adopted at all, could not be con-
fined to any one group, but must be of general application to every branch of Natural
History; (8) that on the division of one genus into several, in the absence of indica-
tion of type by the founder, the author who divides the genus has a right to determine
to which division the original name shall be restricted; and (4) that, in the view of the
majority, the original name ought to be retained (as of right, and not out of mere
courtesy) for some section of the original genus. To these conclusions Mr. Dunning
expressed his assent.*
* T suppose we are all agreed that where the first describer of a genus indicates
which particular insect he regards as typical of the genus, that indication is binding
on future describers, and so long as the name is retained as the name of a genus at all
it must include the particular species so indicated.
The indication of typicality may be either express or implied. If the latter,
evidence either intrinsic or extrinsic, positive or negative, is admissible to ascertain
the author's intention; we may and ought to resort to any and every source or means
of information to determine what species presents the most perfect embodiment of the
idea which was in the mind of the founder, and possesses the most perfect develop-
ment of the characters which the founder has assigned as distinctive of his genus. The
publication of figures and dissections of a particular species; the predominance of an
insect at the time and place when and where the author wrote, either by reason of its
size, beauty, abundance, destructiveness, or any other prominent trait; or the very
name given to the genus, may frequently serve as sufficient indication. Thus (to take
an instance referred to by Mr. Kirby) the name Polyommatus shews that Latreille had
EH
xlvi
in his mind’s eye the species which bear on their under surface the numerous eye-like
spots distinctive of our ‘‘ common blues,” and he gives a figure of P. Corydon ; yet most
modern classifiers, neglecting these indications, place the polyommatous or “ many-
eyed” species in the genus Lycena, and apply the name Polyommatus to species
which have no eye-like spots at all. In the case of a genus which is originally
established on a single species, the negative evidence afforded by the non-indication of
other species as belonging to the genus, is almost tantamount to an express indication
of typicality.
But (to come now to Mr. Kirby’s paper), when the founder entirely omits to give
any indication, is the first in his list of species necessarily to be taken as the type-
species P is the first section of the genus necessarily the typical section? Mr. Kirby’s
proposed reform is based entirely on this proposition, which he terms an “‘ axiom.”
But instead of being axiomatic, either self-evident, or an established proposition,
I think it is capable of distinct disproof; and that so far as Linné, Fabricius, and the
older authors are concerned, it can be shown to demonstration that in many cases,
whilst they have not indicated what was their type, they have indicated that their first
species, or first section, was not. In the first place, an insect that is once the type of a
genus must ever remain the type; yet (as mentioned by Mr. Pascoe) Fabricius, in the
successive editions of his works placed different species at the head of the same genus,
and (if my memory serves) Linné did the same. Again, the species of which dis-
sections, &c., are given is frequently not the first species in the genus. And (what
seems to my mind decisive on the point) look at Linné’s description of Cimex: “ale
quatuor, cruciato-complicate: superioribus anterius coriaceis:” the first section of
Cimex is “apteri,” and at the head of the genus is the wingless C. lectularius. The
notion of a wingless insect being the type of a, four-winged group is somewhat
amusing! I believe other instances, not quite so startling, but in principle the same,
might be adduced in abundance; but Cimex, if it stood alone, is enough to show that,
so far as Linné is concerned, the notion of taking the first species, or first section, as
the type, is simply the reverse of what the author intended. It may be that the Cimex
of Linné (as was argued by Mr. Butler respecting Papilio) is not properly a genus at
all; but whatever it be, it must I think be clear that in the contemplation of Linné
himself, the first section or species of Cimex was not his type of Cimex.
In a detached paper, containing descriptions of genera taken haphazard and at
random, there may be some presumption in favour of the notion that the species first
described is typical of the genus; and even in a complete systematic work, there may
be a slight presumption in favour of the typicality of the first species of a genus
which (like Papiliv) is placed (as it were) at the top of the tree. But as regards apy
other genus than the first in the list, it seems to me that in a systematic work or
catalogue the presumption would rather be against the first species; for suppose three
genera, A, B and C; the arrangement being necessarily linear, and following the
affinities of the species, the first species of genus B would be that which most nearly
approached genus A, just as the last species of genus B would be that which most
nearly approached genus C; and it would be neither at the top, nor at the bottom, but
about the middle, of genus B, that we should find the species of B which was most
different from both A and C, which species would presumably be the ideal representa-
tive of genus B, would presumably have that aggregate of characters which constitute
the genus B, and distinguish it from A on the one hand and from C on the other.
—-S
xlvil
I hold therefore, not only that Mr. Kirby’s rule is inappropriate to the past, but
that it would be an unhappy rule to adopt for the future.
I conceive that the practice hitherto has beeu a tacit recognition of the proposition
enunciated by Mr. Stainton—that when a genus (of which no type has been indicated)
comes to require division, the author who performs that operation is the person with
whom it lies to decide which of the dissevered parts shall retain the original name.
This practice has worked pretty well in the past, and will suffice for the future.
I apprehend that the evils which have arisen in the past have been caused by the fact
that the separatist, failing to recognise the original author's indications of typicality,
has applied the rule to cases which were not properly within its range. But assuming
that the separatist has not disregarded the original author’s indications, or in other
words that the case was a proper one for the application of the above rule, then I hold
that his determination ought to be final and conclusive on writers subsequent to him,
and is entitled to the full benefit of the law of priority.
But whilst agreeing to the above proposition, Mr. Janson goes a step further;
whilst leaving the second author at liberty, he frees him from any obligation, to
retain for either division the name given by the first author. And I believe
some naturalists go a step further still, and say {that the second author ought
not to retain the original name as the name of either division, but should give
a new name to each division. That is to say, because we cannot call by the
name of Papilio all the species which Linné included under that name, therefore we
shall not call any of the species by that name. It is quite true that the Papilio of
Latreille is not co-extensive with the Papilio of Linné; the Papilio of this century is
only part of Papilio of the last century; to the characters, as given by Linné, admitting
a very wide range of forms, Latreille has superadded other characters, possessed by
some but not by all those within the Linnean range; the effeet is to restrict the
application of the name to a part only of the insects which Linné recognised under the
term Papilio; but every species of the Papilio of Latreille must be a species of the
Papilio of Linné, not necessarily known to Linné, but within the description given by
him. Florence remains an Italian city notwithstanding that Mentone has been taken
from Italy. Machaon may remain a Papilio notwithstanding that Priamus bas been
removed. There is no misapplication of the name Papilio—only a narrowing of its
application.
Consider the consequence of the rejection of the older name, instead of the
restriction of its limits. Genus A is divided into two; each receives a new name,
B and C: there is no longer a genus A. * A few years later B and C are subdivided,
B into D and E, C into F and G: there is no longer a genus B or a genus C. A few
years later the same process is applied to D, E, F and G: these in turn are discarded,
and give place to H, I, J, K, L, M, N and O; and these again’make way for the rest
of the alphabet. There is an end to all stability or permanence of generic nomencla-
ture. At the present rate of discovery of species and publication of genera, there would
not be in use twenty years hence a single generic name which is now employed.
I care not whether it be called Papilio of Linné, or of Latreille—in fact, the genus,
as now understood, is not exclusively due to either, but is the result of the work of
both. To Linné we owe the name, to Latreille our present conception of the genus.
But to whomsoever the credit (such as it is) may be due, I hope that so long as genera
are recognised at all, so long will there be a genus Papilio.
xlvili
Hitherto we have discussed the division of one genus into two or more. The con-
verse case, of the aggregation of two or more genera into one genus, has recently been
discussed (in the Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868) by Mr. Pascoe and Messrs. Douglas
and Scott. Mr. Pascoe objects to “ giving new names to such genera as are formed by
the union of two or more genera of a preceding writer.” Messrs. Douglas and Scott
reply that “it cannot be said with any truth that the name of a thing should be
retained for another thing which is differently constituted, but of which the former
may be an ingredient. A chemist when he combines two or more elements does not
give the name of any one of them to the resulting compound; neither can it be rightly
done in the labours of the naturalist.” Illustrations of this sort, which are not argu-
ments, are often delusive, never conclusive: probably those [ am about to give are as
much or as little so as the above illustration of my friends. But to my mind the
grouping together of two things under one name may be more aptly illustrated by a
geographical than by a chemical simile: the question is one of boundaries, not of
constitution or composition, or chemical amalgamation. France remains France
notwithstanding the acquisition of a piece of Italy; Prussia remains Prussia, though
it has absorbed the whole of Hanover. The limits are changed, but the name is not;
a Nizzard is now (nominally) a Frenchman, a Hanoverian is now (nominally) a
Prussian; a Parisian remains a Frenchman, a Berliner remains a Prussian. If an
author has established two so-called genera, A and B, and subsequent authors come to
the conclusion that, whilst A is a good genus, B has not sufficient distinctive characters
to entitle it to rank as a genus apart from A, surely the least inconvenient course is to
take A as the name of the whole, rather than abolish A and B, and impose a new name,
C. And (in this case, at all events) there is no impropriety in applying name A to the
whole group; the ground on which it is done being this, that B is in fact part of A,
and was erroneously severed from A; it never ought to have been made a genus, and
the name therefore is properly sunk, when the supposed genus to which it was applied
is found to be untenable as a genus. On the other hand, I am quite ready to admit
that in other cases it may be more convenient to give a new name to the united group;
Iingland and Scotland are united into one kingdom, but it is not the kingdom of
England, or the kingdom of Scotland, but the kingdom of Britain. So (without any
insinuation that either England or Scotland could not stand alone) if an author has
established two so-called genera, X and Y, and subsequent authors come to the con-
clusion that neither X nor Y can stand alone asa genus, but yet that the two combined
do properly form a genus (a possible case, though scarcely a probable one), neither
name has any better claim to retention than the other, neither represents a genus,
and there seems nothing for it but to sink them both, and give a new name Z to the
real genus, which is then in fact for the first time indicated—J. W. D.
xlix
January 4, 1869.
H. W. Bares, Esq., President, in the chair.
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors :—
* Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. xxvi., Part 2; ‘Journal of the Linnean
Society, Zoology, No. 44: presented by the Society. ‘ Proceedings of the Royal
Society, No. 104; by the Society. ‘ Memoires de la Societé de Physique et d’His-
toire Naturelle de Genéve,’ Vol. xix., Part2; by the Society. Hewitson’s ‘ Exotic
Butterflies, Part 69; by W. W. Saunders, Esq. ‘The Entomologist’s Annual,’ for
1869; by the Editor. Newman’s ‘ British Moths,’ No. 25; by the Author. ‘The
Zoologist, for January; by the Editor. ‘ The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine,’ for
January; by the Editors.
By purchase :—Gemminger and Von Harold, ‘ Catalogus Coleopterorum,’ Vol. ii.
Election of Members.
W. F. Kirby, Esq., Assistant in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society
(previously an Annual Subscriber), and E. Holdsworth, Esq., of Shanghai, were elected
Members.
Exhibitions, &e.
Mr, Bond exhibited two diminutive specimens of Vanessa Urtice, about half the
usual size of the butterfly; they were two out of fifty or more dwarfs, not all of the
same brood of Jarve, which, owing probably to the extreme heat of 1868, had been
developed with remarkable rapidity, having remained less than a week in the chrysalis
state.
Mr. Bond also exhibited a dark variety of the female Apatura Iris, and a very
pale variety of Hesperia Comma.
Mr. E. G. Meek exhibited specimens of Dianthecia Barrettii, captured by Mr.
Gregson, in Ireland.
Mr. W.C. Boyd exhibited a specimen of Crambus myellus, captured by Mr. Adam
Boyd some time since near Blair Athol, and which had remained mixed in Mr. Boyd’s
collection with C. pinetellus, until his attention was called to it by the announcement
at the previous Meeting (ante, p. xlii.).
The Secretary exhibited photographs of nests of Vespa Britannica and V. arborea,
presented to the Society by Mr. John Hogg, by whom the nests were found at Norton,
Durham.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited a series of drawings of bees and wasps and their respective
nests, and a number of the actual nests, collected in India by Mr. Charles Horne.
Mr. Horne (who was present as a visitor) gave some interesting details on the habits
of the insects. The species of bee which was kept by the natives was, he believed, the
Apis dorsata. In the North-west Provinces, it was necessary to leave the key in every
lock, or the cavity was pretty sure to be occupied by a Pelopeus: if a sheet of paper
was left on a mantel-shelf, it would be fixed thereto by an inserted mud-cell; or a like
cell might often be found interposed between a pillow and the bed; even a little
hollow in the floor, in spite of the inevitable destruction of the nest, would be filled ;
and in one case he had known a nest to be placed on the edge of a door, and it was
seven times crushed by the shutting of the door, and seven times renewed before the
little bee could be induced to forsake the spot she had chosen. Some of the nests
exhibited were placed iu very singular positions; one, of a leaf-cutting bee, was in the
handle or ear of a terra cotta vase, access being obtained through a small hole in the
narrow lower end of the handle; another, belonging to a Pelopzus, and consisting of
a single mud-cell, was attached to a man’s signet or finger-ring the stone of which had
fallen out, and was fastened to the metal by means of a coil or knot of nud passed
through the hole where the stone had been; a third nest of a bee consisted of a
spherical mass of cells which was found in the centre (filling up the whole hollow) of
the nest of a mouse, which was suspended in grass.
Prof. Westwood mentioned that at Oxford he had found a mouse’s nest in the
centre of one of his bee-hives, surrounded by a number of headless bees.
Mr. Horne also exhibited a strong earthern cocoon, dug out of the ground, and
containing a large species of Sternocera; he had frequently found the perfect beetle,
thus encased, and it was the regular habit of this species of Buprestide. (Compare
the habit of Lucanus cervus, ante, p. ix.)
Prof. Westwood exhibited drawings and gave some account of various remarkable
insects, including (1) a species of Leptocorisa (Cimicide, Coreide) sent by Mr.
Thwaites, from Ceylon, where it was very injurious to the rice crop, sucking the juices
of the plant—it was probably identical with the local variety of Cimex varicornis which
he (Prof. Westwood) had described under the name Bengalensis; (2) an Ichneumon
and an Epeira, the larva of the former being an external parasite on the body of the
spider ; other instances of external parasitic larve were, Eulophus (Chalcidide) on a
willow-gall saw-fly, and larve of a Scolia on larve of the Lamellicorn beetle, Oryctes ;
(3) a new species of Coleoptera from the Niger, referable to the genus Aprostoma of
Guérin, with which it was suggested that both Mecedanum of Erichson and Gempy-
lodes of Pascoe might probably be united ; (4) a beautiful species of Lamiidz, from the
Zambesi ; (5) a second species of the genus Ectrephes of Pascoe (Proc. Ent. Soc, 1866,
p. xvi) ; and (6) a new genus in Count Mniszech’s collection, allied to Rbyssodes, and
intended to be described as Rhyssodina. .
Mr. A. E. Eaton communicated the following note :—
“Dr. A-S. Packard, jun., has very kindly sent me a separate of a paper by him,
‘On the structure of the Ovipositor and Homologous parts in the Male Insect, from the
Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. xi. (Feb. 26, 1868), in which he has corrected his
earlier observations. The result of his later investigations is to confirm M. Lacaze-
Duthier’s statement that ‘ les tariéres des Névroptéres sontsemblables aux tariéres des
Hyménoptéres,” which his earlier conclusions had (as I showed in Trans. Ent. Soc.
1868, p. 143) contradicted; and the paper also shows in what way the French author
came to be mistaken in supposing that the sting grew out from the ninth segment
alone.”
Mr. Frederick Smith read the following :—
On the Affinities of the Genus Sibyllina, of Westwood.
“ At the Meeting of this Society on the 16th of November, Professor Westwood
described, under the name.Sibyllina wnigmatica, an insect that has for some years
Bare
been standing nameless in various collections. I had, myself, after a somewhat cursory
examination, referred it to the ants, and had placed it in the family Poneride. A few
years ago I had an opportunity of submitting this insect to Dr. Nylander, who thought
I was right in so doing, but I must admit he had only time to give it a very slight
examination. Prof. Westwood (Tr. Ent. Soc. 1868, p. 329, Proc. p. xli.) has referred
it to the Vespida, its position being indicated as near the genus Belonogaster, of
Saussure.
* At the time when the paper was read, I expressed an opinion that it could not
belong to the Vespide: I have therefore felt bound to examine the insect with a greater
degree of attention, and have carefully and minutely investigated its structural pecu-
liarities: the result has been, that I have changed my opinion as to the family to which
it belongs, although I shall still be found to differ widely in that respect from Prof.
Westwood, and also from Mr. Haliday, who once examined the insect,and determined
that it belonged to the Sphegide, being in his opinion closely allied to the genus
Pelopeus.
‘“* Having expressed an opinion that it does not belong to the Vespide, it is ineum-
bent upon me to give my reasons. In the first place, all true wasps, the social
as well as the solitary species, have the anterior wings folded longitudinally, except
when they are used in flight; in the genus Sibyllina they are not folded. In the next
place, every true wasp has four submarginal cells, the fourth being very frequently
incomplete, but in some species of the genera Belonogaster, Polistes, and also of the
genus Vespa, among the social wasps, and in the solitary group, in the genera Zuthus,
Rhynchium, Abispa and Synagris, the fourth cell is complete ; but I know no species
of wasp that has not three complete submarginal cells; the genus Sibyllina has only
two. Then, every true wasp has three discoidal cells in the anterior wings ; Sibyllina
has only one. ‘The prothorax in all the Vespide forms the upper anterior portion, and
is prolonged backwards to the tegule of the wings; the prolongations also forming
lateral portions of the upper surface: this is not the case in the genus Sibyllina. The
only character which Sibyllina possesses in common with the Vespide is that of having
Junate, or notched, eyes: this I regard as only a subsidiary character, being common to
a vast number of Hymenopterous insects. We find the lunate eye in many species of
the genera Mutilla, Scolia, Sapyga, Pemphredon and Philanthus: then again,
among the Ichneumonida, it is found in species belonging to the genera Pimpla,
Camploplex, Anomalon, Ophion and some others; this character therefore cannot be
regarded as any strong evidence in favour of Sibyllina being a genus of Vespide. It
is a fundamental charactar, distinguishing the social wasps, that the claws of the tarsi
are all simple—in Sibyllina the claws of the posterior tarsi are toothed ;—the solitary
wasps are distinguished by having the claws of the tarsi dentate.
“ After a very careful examination of the insect, I have come to the conclusion
that Sibyllina belongs ta the Ichneumonide.
“The first, and the strongest objection that can be urged against this opinion, will
doubtless be that the antennz are only twelve-jointed, and not, as in the generality of
the Ichneumonide, mulltiarticulate: this is undoubtedly true, but there are genera of
Ichneumonide having only twelve- and thirteen-jointed antennez. Among the minute
Ichneumons the genus Trioxys is found to have thirteen-jointed antenne; and in
Ephidrus, belonging to the same group, they are only twelve-jointed. In the next place,
I believe every species of the larger group of Ichneumons, (I am not prepared to speak
lit
of the minute ones in that particular) has double-jointed trochanters : these joints in
most of the genera and species are distinctly visible, but not universally so in the
group; in some species belonging to the genus Exetastes, the second joint is retracted
within the first, and is unly parily visible; the same is the case in the genus Anomalon,
I have carefully examined the structure of the legs of Sibyllina, and I find a second
joint distinctly visible, quite as much so as in the Ichneumonidous genus Metopius.
The antenne of every wasp that I have seen are geniculate, in Sibyllina they are not.
In addition to this, the prothorax is of the same structure as in Ophion and Anomalon ;
its ocelli are large and prominent, as in those genera, whilst'in the Vespide they are
much smaller, and usually more sunken than prominent. Another most remarkable
peculiarity in the structure of Sibyllina, is the broadly-dilated tarsal joints, a character
I believe nowhere to be found in the Vespidw, but peculiarly characteristic of the
species of the genus Anomalon. The abdomen of Sibyllina has the basal segment
narrowed into a slender petiole; this is also characteristic of the genus Ophion and
Anomalon. Then again, Sibyllina is furnished with a sting, or ovipositor ; its/structure
is precisely the same as the sting or ovipositor of Ophion and Anomalon: in fact I can-
discover no external difference between the stings of Belonogaster, Vespa, Ophion and
Anomalon; in each the sting tapers to a sharp point, and is simply a hollow tube,
having a groove beneath, that in the wasp being, I presume, for the purpose of convey-
ing poison into the wound made by piercing, and in the case of the Ichneumons for
conveying the egg into the victim attacked.
“ Place Sibyllina in any group of the Hymenoptera, and it will, as it were, stand
alone; it has little affinity that I can discover, certainly it has no strong affinity, with
any other known insect. But having pointed out those parts of its structure that agree
with the same parts in the genera Ophion and Anomalon, I shall conclude by express-
ing my opinion that the genus Sibyllina should be referred to the Ichneumonide, and
that its closest ally is the genus Anomalon.”
Prof. Westwood thanked Mr. Smith for his careful investigation of the affinities of
Sibyllina, and congratulated him upon having arrived at a conclusion identical with
that of the American entomologist, Mr. Cresson, who had referred to the Ichneumons
an insect which he (Prof. Westwood) believed to be the same as Sibyllina. At the
same time he was scarcely prepared to admit that the insect is an Ichneumon. The
two-jointed trochanters, upon which Mr. Smith placed considerable reliance, were by
no means peculiar to the Ichneumons, and if the character existed in Sibyllina, it
rather pointed in another direction; he (Prof. Westwood) however could not detect the
second joint, though he had looked carefully forit. Myr. Smith had not noticed the
diversity in the number of joints in the antenne of the sexes, twelve in the male,
thirteen in the female, which was very characteristic of the Aculeata.
The President suggested ihat Sibyllina might be the type of a group connecting
the Vespide and Ichneumonide.
Papers read.
The following papers were read:—* On the Affinities of the Genus Sibyllina of
Westwood,” by Mr. F. Smith. (See above). ;
“ Descriptions of Nine New Species of Buprestide,’ by Mr. Edward Saunders.
Belonging to the genera Sternocera, Julodis, Catoxantha, Chrysaspis (n. g.), Psiloptera,
Pseudhyperantha(u. g.), Hyperantha, and Acherusia (two).
hii
ANNUAL MEETING,
January 25, 1869.
FREDERICK Suiru, Esq., Member of the Council, in the chair.
An Abstract of the Treasurer’s Accounts for 1868 was read by Mr.8.J. Wilkinson,
one of the Auditors, and showed a balance in favour of the Society of £79 10s. Od.
The Secretary read the following: —
Report of the Couneil for 1868.
In accordance with the Bye-Laws, the Council begs to present the following
Report.
The number of our Members has again suffered a slight decrease; the ten
elections during the year are scarcely sufficient to supply the places left vacant by
those whose names, by death, resignation or default, have been removed from our
List. We have lost Boheman, the youngest of our Honorary Members; and by the
death of Desvignes the small remnant of our Original Members has been made still
smaller.
The additions to the Library have been numerous ; both by donation and by
purchase our shelves have received very valuable acquisitions.
But, like its immediate predecessor, it is for the extent of the Society’s publications
that the year 1868 is conspicuous. The production of upwards of 650 octavo pages
of letter-press, illustrated by twenty-four plates, of jwhich nine are coloured, is
sufficient to prove alike the activity of our Members and the economical administra-
tion of our finances. Besides the ‘ Transactions for 1868,’ the first of the new issue
announced in the last Report of the Council, and we trust the precursor of a long line
of annual volumes of not less extent and of equal scientific value, the Society has
published other papers which must be regarded as in the nature of a bonus. Of the
“Third Series” of the Transactions, volume 3 has been advanced a stage, volumes
4 and 5 have been completed and indexed. And the contents of these have been
attended with somewhat unusual expense; witness the coloured plates of Malayan
Longicornia and Cetoniide, and the printing of Mr. Jenner Fust’s Tables of Distri-
bution of British Lepidoptera. The last work, indeed, would have been beyond the
means at the disposal of the Council, had not the author himself come liberally to our.
aid, and had not his assistance been supplemented by a vote of the Government Grant
Committee of the Royal Society. A further instalment of the ‘ Longicornia Malay-
ana’ is on the table this evening, and it is hoped that the ensuing autumn will
witness the completion of Mr. Pascoe’s Monograph, and with it the completion of the
“Third Series.”
Two pleasing circumstances in connection with the Transactions deserve to be
mentioned here; first, the considerably increased sum derived from sales, as compared
with the preceding twelve months; and secondly, the growing number of new con-
tributors whose maiden papers have during the last two or three years been printed
under the auspices of the Society.
liv
The sources of income and heads of expenditure may be briefly exhibited as
follows :—
ReEcEIPts. PayMeENTs.
£ £
Contributions of Members. . 210 | Publications’ 5 ; 5 . 325
Sale of Publications. ; . 99 | Library ; . : ; -) ae
Interest on Consols. 5 : 3 | Rent and Office Expenses . 2 GG
Donations . ‘ 5 - . 133 | Tea at Meetings ; 4 i) aE
£445 £442
The expenditure exceeds that of any other of the thirty-five years during which
the Society has existed. The £210 from Members includes the composition of a Life
Member in lieu of annual payments; the outlay of which in the permanent improve-
ment of the Library the Council regards as a proper application of a fund which is
capital rather than income. The item of £99 from the sale of Transactions has
already been referred to, as a cause for gratification ; but the amount ought to be still
further increased: will it be believed, that of all our Metropolitan Members, not a
dozen care to purchase (at half-price) a copy of our works? The item for Rent and
Office expenses, £66, has been reduced to a minimum; no further reduction in the
cost of administration is possible. The £325 paid for printing and plates is exclusive
of the cost of drawing and engraving four plates of Longicorns, for which, as on many
previous occasions, we have to offer our thanks to Mr. Wilson Saunders. It is from
extraordinary donations ‘(among which the Council begs especially to call attention to
that of £70 from Mr. Dunning), and not from the regular income of the Society, that
a large portion of the expenditure on the Transactions has been defrayed—a state of
affairs which the Council does not affect to consider satisfactory, and which is
defensible only on the ground that, in the interest of Science, the curtailment of our
publications would be still more unsatisfactory. Adding the smal! balance brought
forward from 1867 to the slight excess of receipts over payments for 1868, the
‘Treasurer starts the year 1869 with cash in hand to the amount of £5 12s. Od.
» The “ List of the Insects of the British Isles” has not been forgotten ; considerable
progress has been made, particularly with the Hymenoptera and Neuroptera; the
Perlide now form the only obstacle to the completion of the latter Order, and as
Mr. M‘Lachlan is actively engaged in revising that Family, it is hoped that the
Catalogue of Neuroptera will be ready before many months have elapsed.
It is a source of regret that many of our Entomologists should be so far wanting
in public spirit as to withhold their support from the body which is the representative
of the United Kingdom in the Parliament of the Entomological World: it is a source
of wonderment that so many of them who, if devoid of abstract love of the science,
might be supposed to be influenced by utilitarian arguments, should be backward in
joining a Society whose Members receive so full a return for their subscription. The
Annual Contribution is but a guinea. To the Metropolitan Members, the Library
and Meetings—to the Provincial Members, the Transactions—afford a really re-
muneralive quid pro quo. For the last seven years, with an average of 150 con-
tributors, the average expenditure of the Society has exceeded 350 guineas. The
Council, in conclusion, desires to urge upon Members the desirability—not to say the
— «ae
lv
necessity—of obtaining an addition of (say) fifty to our numbers. It is by indi-
vidual exertions, rather than by collective action, that such a result is likely to be
attained.
January 25, 1869.
The following gentlemen were elected Members of the Council for 1869 :—
Messrs. H. W. Bates, Hon. Thomas De Grey, Dunning, Grut, M‘Lachlan, Pascoe,
Salvin, G. 8S. Saunders, F. Smith, Stainton, 8S. Stevens, A. R. Wallace and Wormald.
The following Officers for 1869 were afterwards elected :—President, Mr. H. W.
Bates; Treasurer, Mr. S. Stevens; Secretaries, Messrs. Dunning and M‘Lachlan ;
Librarian, Mr. E. W. Janson.
6
The following Address (in the absence of the President, whose official duties com-
pelled his attendance elsewhere) was read by the Secretary :—
THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.
GENTLEMEN,
According to the custom observed by us in common with
other scientific societies, which requires that the person occupying
the honourable position of President shall give, at the Anniversary
Meeting, some account of the progress made during the year in the
especial branch of Science cultivated by the body over whom he
presides, I will now endeavour to fulfil this portion of my duties by
submitting to you a sketch of some of the more interesting subjects
connected with Knutomology that have called for attention during the
past year.
Commencing with our own Society, it is my duty first to mention
the Members lost to us by death, since our last Anniversary.
We have to regret the loss to ourselves and Science of Professor
C. A. Boheman, of Stockholm, one of our Honorary Members, who
died on the 2nd of November last, at the age of seventy-two. The
principal works of this learned Entomologist were published in his
riper years. They relate exclusively to the systematic department of
our study, and are distinguished for the unvarying amplitude, uni-
formity and conscientiousness of the specific descriptions, written in
Latin, His ‘Insecta Caffrariz,’ a description of the Coleopterous
insects collected by the indefatigable naturalist and elephant hunter
Wahlberg, during a long series of years, was commenced in 1848,
lvi
a second part appearing in 1851 and a third in 1857, the work
remaining unfinished at his death. The work which perhaps will
remain his chief title to fame was his ‘ Monographia Cassididarum,’ or
Monograph of the Coleopterous family Cassidide, published in three
volumes in 1850, to which he added, some years afterwards, a supple-
mentary volume, the whole forming one of the most complete and
masterly monographical works that have hitherto been produced on
this inexhaustible Order. On his visit to London, in 1853, his un-
assuming bearing and great special knowledge acquired for him the
esteem of many of our best Entomologists, and he was engaged by
Dr. Gray, Keeper of the Zoological Department of the British Museum,
to compile a Catalogue of the Cassidide, with especial reference to
the collection of this particular group in the national establishment.
This work, forming one of the well-known duodecimo Catalogues, was
published in 1856. Since then he appears not to have undertaken any
work of magnitude, if we except the Coleopterous portion of the
‘Eugenie’s Resa, but he regularly took part in the proceedings at the
Meetings of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and communicated
several short papers, one of which, on the Coleoptera of South-West
Africa, of some interest to the general Coleopterist, was published in
the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Academy for 1861.
Mr. Thomas Desvignes, one of what may be termed the old school
of British Entomologists, was chiefly known for his great knowledge
of the British Ichneumonide, on which he published several treatises,
besides a catalogue of the species, forming part of the series issued by
the Authorities of the British Museum. He was one of the original
Members of our Society, but of late years was seen but rarely amongst
us. He died at Woodford on the 11th of May last.
Abraham Cooper, Royal Academician, was also one of the few
remaining’ British Entomologists of the old school, records of whose
rare captures appear frequently in the earlier works of Stephens and
Curtis. He was probably the oldest of our Entomologists, being in
his eighty-second year at his death, which happened last Christmas
Kve. Forty years ago he was an ardent collector, and rendered, at
that time, good service in assisting the leading Entomologists of the
day, by his discoveries of new and rare species. Dendrophilus Cooperi
(since ascertained to be D. punctatus of Herbst) was named after him,
and he was the first to discover in this country Stilicus fragilis and
other remarkable ingects.
Thirty years ago the name of William Edward Shuckard was a
Wii
household word with every British Entomologist. The translator of
Burmeister’s ‘ Handbook,’ the author of the ‘ Essay on the Fossorial
Hymenoptera’ and the ‘Monograph of the Dorylide,’ of the letter-
press of ‘The British Coleoptera Delineated,’ and of numerous other
papers, several of which appeared in the early volumes of our ‘ Trans-
actions,’ was formerly an active Member of our Society: after a silence
of nearly a quarter of a century, Mr. Shuckard published his ‘ British
Bees’ in 1866, and died at Kennington on the 10th of November, 1868,
at the age of sixty-five.
And, though uot one of our body, nor in any way a man of Science,
a passing word may be permitted me to record the death of Charles
Turner, well known, at least to our metropolitan Coleopterists, as a most
persevering Collector, to whom our cabinets owe many rarities, and
more than one novelty.
1 believe I may safely congratulate you on the share which the
Entomological Society of London has had in promoting the study of
our difficult branch of Natural History, during the year that has
recently closed. We have held, as heretofore, twelve Meetings, uni-
formly well attended, at which valuable papers have been read, and
many topics, relating to variation, economy and nomenclature, have
been discussed, I hope with the effect not only of ventilating the sub-
jects, but of eliciting opinions and facts from men of experience,
which may be of some interest to the cultivators of other departments
of science. Our published ‘ Proceedings,’ in which these discussions
are reported, are given with more completeness than is usually the case
with learned societies, for which we are indebted to the industry and
excellent judgment of our senior Secretary, Mr. Dunning. With
regard to our ‘ Transactions,’ in which are published the more im-
portant memoirs read before us, I must call your attention to the
improvement made in the past year in the mode of publication, an
improvement the suggestion and carrying out of which we also owe to
our senior Secretary. Instead of issuing an indefinite number of parts,
forming a volume every two or three years, we now publish a volume
each year, a simplification which will earn for us the blessings of all
working Entomologists, who have to quote our volumes or the dates of
the publication of species recorded in them. The four parts com-
posing the volume for 1868 (the Index and completion of the ‘ Pro-
ceedings’ await only the conclusion of this day’s Meeting) were issued
within the year. They contain 332 pages of ‘Transactions. proper,
Iviii
besides ‘ Proceedings’ separately paged, and are illustrated by fifteen
plates.*
The number of memoirs published is eighteen, nine of which are
purely descriptive, three consist of rectifications of synonymy, &c.,
and six are on insect economy, anatomy and morphology. Nearly all
Orders of insects are treated of in the volume; and if there be any
deficiency it can only lie in the scarcity of papers on the Kutomology
of our own islands. And here let me remind Members who may be
disposed to make this objection to the contents of our publications,
that the absence of such papers is not the fault of the Council, who
can only select papers, for printing, from such as are submitted to
them, and would be pleased to receive interesting memoirs relating to
the geographical distribution, economy, structure and physiology of —
even our commoner British insects. I am glad to be able to add that
the sale of our ‘ Transactions’ has been greater in 1868 than during
any recent year.
Looking beyond our Society, there are no special signs that the
study of Entomology has made much progress in the British islands.
I might, however, point to memoirs of some importance which have
been read before our parent Society, the Linnean, and are published
in their ‘ Transactions’ and ‘Journal;’ and also to the descriptive
papers by Mr. Andrew Murray, Mr. Pascoe and Mr. Butler, contributed
to the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History.’ The two periodicals
devoted to Entomology, the ‘Entomologist’s Mofthly Magazine’ and
the ‘ Entomologist,’ have appeared regularly during the year. These
journals fulfil well their purpose of serving as a record of occurrences
and observations relating to British insects, and keep alive the interest
of the numerous collectors, many of whom are also acute and original
observers, who live, isolated from each other, in various parts of the
country. But, besides notices of British insects, the ‘ Entomologist’s
Monthly Magazine’ contains descriptive articles and short monographs
of great scientific interest, and the numerous notes on the habits and
transformations of species, especially those by Dr. T. A. Chapman on
xylophagous insects, the Rev. J. Hellins and Mr. W. Buckler on Lepi-
doptera, and others, are important contributions to our knowledge of
the development and economy of our native species. In the provinces,
* The volume “ for 1868” is only part of the Society’s publications during that
year. See the Report of the Council.
lix
the continuation of the original and highly curious observations of
“Mr. Watson on the plumules of diurnal Lepidoptera have been pub-
lished in the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society
of Manchester. One of the greatest advantages of the study which
we cultivate, and which it shares with kindred pursuits, is that it sup-
plies an incentive to healthful country rambles, and rational occupa-
tion for the mind in investigating the exhaustless marvels that Nature
is ready to unfold at the bid of the patient inquirer. It is thus an
antidote to the frivolity and passion for injurious excitement, which
are said by satirists to distinguish our age, and to be growing amongst
us. On this account one would wish to hear more concerning the
establishment and growth of Natural History Field Clubs, and espe-
cially of the cultivation of Entomology by their members. To those
whose occupations leave but little time for recreation, such pursuits
have to offer a pleasant and healthful excitement, and a store of happy
memories for after years; whilst the ambitious and energetic, by
entering more deeply into their mysteries, may find worthy employ-
ment for all their powers.
An annual work which has appeared for the last four years in this
country, and on which we, in common with the cultivators of other
branches of Zoology, have reason to congratulate ourselves,—I mean
the ‘ Record of Zoological Literature,—has this year been published
in separate parts, containing the main divisions of the Science. All who
are engaged in the study of Zoology may obtain, therefore, and ought
to have already in their hands, the record of everything that has been
published throughout the world, during the year 1867, relating to the
department they severally cultivate. The Entomological section,
compiled by Mr. W.S. Dallas, as in previous years, occupies the
lion’s share of this most valuable Record, comprising no less than
484 pages. When we consider the countless number of volumes
of separate works, of the ‘Transactions’ of learned Societies, and of
’ periodicals, that have to be waded through. in order to extract the
necessary references to classification, descriptions of new genera and
species, rectifications, notices of anatomy, physiology and economy,
which constitute the ‘Record, we must greatly admire the industry
of the authors and editor of this work, who succeed in publishing,
during the summer of 1868, an account of what is contained in the
vast variety of works, of all languages, down to the end of the year
1867. The only other work of a similar nature, the ‘ Bericht iiber
die wissenschaftlichen Leistungen im Gebiete der Zoologie,’ published
Ix
annually in Wiegmann’s ‘Archiv,’ at Berlin, bas at present reached
only the first half of the record of the combined years 1865—6.
Abroad, the most noteworthy circumstance connected with the pro-
gress of our favourite Science, setting aside the appearance of several
important works to which I will presently refer, is the extension of
the study in new countries, or at least the establishment of societies and
the publication of serial works in countries where these were previously
unknown. During the past year an Entomological Society has been
formed in Italy, the founders of which announce the intended pub-
lication of ‘ Transactions ;) a few years before, in-Russia, a similar
Society was established in St. Petersburg, which has already issued
several Parts of its Proceedings, under the title of ‘ Hore Societatis
Entomologice Rossice.’ Some years previously an Entomological
Society was started in Belgium, which continues to publish its very
valuable ‘ Annales.’ There is a similar Society in Holland; and, in
short, the time is probably not far distant when Entomology will have
its specially-organized body of cultivators in every European state.
Already Entomological memoirs are published in the Russian
language: should the practice of recording valuable information in
the vernacular of each country become general, the study in its com-
pleteness of any special subject in our Science, already difficult, will
become almost impossible.
In America the extension of our Science has become almost as
general as in Europe. The Entomological Society of Philadelphia,
after six or seven years’ existence, has grown into the “ American
Entomological Society,” and publishes many memoirs of importance
in its ‘Transactions.’ In the United States, where the heat of the
summer fosters an abundant insect life, and the very rapid and recent
clearing of forests and prairie has rudely disturbed the equilibrium of
life, maintained when a region is left in its natural condition, the
subject of insects affects the interests and feelings of the human
inhabitants to a degree not felt in the old-settled countries of Europe.
ven at this distance we hear occasionally of the total destruction of the
harvests of one or other part of the Western States by the “ locust ;”
and it appears that the productions of orchards, gardens and fields in
this region are all subject to similar wholesale destruction. Hence
the knowledge gained by scientific students of Insects and _ their
habits is becoming appreciated by their fellow citizens, and Entomo-
logy is rising into a profession. We hear of Dr. Asa Fitch as “State
1x1
Entomologist of New York,” and of Mr. B. D, Walsh and Mr. C. V.
Riley as occupying similar official posts in the States of Illinois and
Missouri. A Journal devoted more particularly to economic Ento-
mology, and entitled ‘The American Entomologist,’ is published in
St. Louis, Missouri, and is most ably conducted. The accounts of
the habits of insects, injurious or helpful to the farmer and gardener,
are illustrated by well-executed wood-cuts, and the Editors announce
their intention of including, in their future. numbers, articles on
general Entomology, and descriptions of new genera and species of
American insects. In California there are now resident Entomolo-
gists, who publish their new discoveries in the ‘ Proceedings of the
Californian Academy of Natural Sciences.’ There is also an Ento-
mological Society, which publishes its Journal, in Canada.
In several of the British colonies, in other parts of the world, there
is also much greater attention paid to the study of insects than
formerly. One of the most useful books on Diurnal Lepidoptera that
has appeared within the last few years, the ‘Rhopalocera Africe
Australis,’ was published at the Cape of Good Hope. But it is in
Australia that the most marked strides in this direction have been
made. The recently-established Entomological Society of New South
Wales numbers several men of talent and active workers amongst its
members, and has published five parts of its ‘ Transactions,’ con-
taining papers which all general Entomologists are obliged to consult.
In Melbourne, memoirs of great interest on the native Insect Fauna
have been published in the ‘'I'ransactions of the Royal Society of
Victoria ;’ I allude more particularly to the descriptions of Cicinde-
lide and Carabidz of Australia by M. de Castelnau, by which the
treasures of the collection of Dr. Howitt, as well as those of the
author, are for the first time made known. The impression that a
glance at these memoirs produces is, that we have had hitherto but a
faint idea of the extent of the Coleopterous Fauna of Australia and
New Zealand, so vast is the number of new genera and species
acquired in a comparatively short time by the two gentlemen above-
named. Speculations as to the geographical relations and nature of
this Fauna are vain, whilst the discovery of new forms, and of genera
not expected to occur in Australia, proceeds at so rapid a rate.
Returning, in our brief survey, to Europe, it is my duty to call
attention to a few of the more important works on Entomology which
have appeared during the year. I will first mention those which
K
u |xii
velate more especially to the systematic department of our Science,
and afterwards notice one or two treatises which bear upon a subject
interesting not only to all naturalists but to all thinking men, namely,
the evidence afforded by Entomology on the question of the origin of
species : this will lead me to offer a few remarks on the study of the
geographical distribution of insects, with which, with your per-
mission, I will conclude,
The work of a special nature which will have interested probably
the largest number of Entomologists is the ‘ Catalogus Coleopterorum,’
by Dr. Gemminger and the Baron Edgar von Harold. Of this
colossal undertaking two Parts have appeared during the year, con-
taining together 752 pages, exclusive of Index: at this rate it will
take ten or twelve goodly-sized volumes to complete what is simply
a catalogue of all described beetles, with their synonymy and locali-
ties, and references to descriptions. None but those who have
attempted to compile a catalogue of a group of Coleoptera for their
own use—and such a catalogue is an indispensable preliminary to
studying the group and publishing new species—can conceive the
difficulties which the authors of this work must have had to con-
tend with in compiling a Catalogue of the Order for the whole
world. Accuracy of synonymy throughout, and completeness of clas-
sification, whether of genera or of species, were out of the question.
The difficulty with regard to classifying the species of a genus in
their natural order— a difficulty which arises from each of perhaps a
dozen authors registering his species according to a different arrange-
ment, or no arrangement at all—has been got over by the authors by
entering the species alphabetically. With regard to synonymy, the
general rule adopted by them appears to be that of registering every
genus and species, on the authority of its describer, excepting in
cases where any have been proved, by recent writers, to hav been
previously described; and so well has the recent literature been
worked up and the authors’ judgment exercised, that the number of
these duplicate entries of genera and species appears to be very
limited. Few experienced Entomologists believed in the possibility
of such a Catalogue as the present being successfully carried out, and
the quick succession of the volumes (the third I am told is now
passing through the press) is an agreeable surprise to them. The
value of such a compilation resides not only in its facilitating the
naming of collections, but in its furnishing the means of working out
the statistics of that vast host of organic beings which we term
Ixiti
Coleoptera, —a task that has to be accomplished in discussing sub-
jects connected with the relations of Faunas, and with general views
of the vital phenomena of the globe. The compilers have lightened
the task of the future worker in this department by giving the total
numbers of the species at the foot of each genus and family: we are
thus enabled to learn without trouble that the number of described
Carabide is now 8516, of Staphylinide 4130, and so forth. Now
that Coleopterists see the possibility of a general catalogue,—a luxury
of which they have been deprived since Dejean’s last and very
imperfect list became obsolete, many years ago, —it is to be hoped
that they will all do their best to aid the authors, by contributing the
synonymical notes they may have been enabled to make, in their
several departments of study. By such extensive co-operation alone
can the defects noticeable in this most meritorious work be in future
avoided.
Another work of high rank, published in 1868, is the eighth volume
of the renowned ‘Genera des Cgléoptéres, by Professor Lacordaire,
containing the first half of the Longicorns. The reputation which the
‘Genera’ has justly acquired among Entomologists is due, perhaps
chiefly, to the marvellous simplicity and clearness of the author's
treatment of his most intricate subject. A perfect “Systema Co-
leopterorum” could hardly have been expected from one man, in the
present state of our knowledge of this order of insects, the number of
described species having increased so rapidly that it bids fair to
equal that of the whole vegetable kingdom, and the old systems of
classification having collapsed without giving place to anything
founded on a surer basis. Professor Lacordaire has, however, suc-
ceeded in the great task he has imposed upon himself, and which he
has carried on for the past fifteen years. His perspicuous method of
arranging and characterizing the various groups, and the clearness
with which he expresses his meaning, enable the worker to find his
way to a knowledge of the genera with certainty, and, at the same
time, with pleasure.
The difficulties which Professor Lacordaire has had to encounter
in the course of his work have naturally increased as time rolled on,
the number of new genera and new partial classifications rapidly
accumulating from year to year, and rendering his study of the con-
cluding families so much more arduous than those occupying his
earlier volumes. If we may judge by expressions contained in the
present volume, these difficulties have reached a climax in the
Ixiv
arrangement of the Longicorns. He does not however state that any
part of his perplexities arise from the premature activity of authors,
who have been busy in this group during the last few years, but
attributes them to the obstacles to classification presented by the
species and genera themselves. We have been accustomed to hear,
in various quarters, dissatisfaction expressed at the inordinate multi;
plication of genera of Longicorns proposed by recent authors; the
complainers will not find much comfort in the recently-published
volume of the ‘Genera.’ It is true many genera, founded on local
faunas, have been suppressed by Professor Lacordaire, in the Leptu-
ridz and one or two other groups, but he has himself, throughout the
volume, created many others. He frequently mentions this subject,
and in one place states that the number will still have to be largely ~
increased. He adopts in the sub-family Prionide 129 genera,
although the species are not much more than 300; and in the sub-
family Cerambycide he admits 500 genera to 4500 species.
The true reason of the recent great multiplication of genera in this
family of insects lies not so much in the fact that authors have
delighted to exercise their talent in the facile manufacture of genera
and generic names, but in a peculiarity in the mode of variation of
the species, which renders natural the formation of endless small
genera: the same peculiarity has given rise to the difficulty, or rather
the impossibility (for so Lacordaire expresses it), of combining the
genera into higher groups, capable of being distinguished by constant
characters from other groups; it is also, I am inclined to believe, the
originating cause of the existence of numerous anomalous forms of
Longicorns, which seem to depart from the type of the family, and
raise the difficulties of the classifier to the highest pitch. This pecu-
liarity consists in the tendency, in the species of Longicorns, to vary
in what are held, in other families of Coleoptera, to be important
points of structure, on which genera and sub-families may be safely
founded. We have proof of this kind of variability in the differences
among individuals of one and the same species, cases being known of
variation in the number of joints of the antenn, in the spinous pro-
cesses of the elytra and femora, and so forth. Passing from varieties
of the same species, to closely-allied species, the same phenomenon
appears in augmented proportions—antenne, legs, tarsi, even the
component parts of the dermo-skeleton, the sternal segments, are
seen to differ in the most extraordinary way ; and so on to the next
step of affinity, in which, however, it often happens that all definite
Ixv
trace of structural relationship (except that which makes them mem-
bers of the same family) is entirely lost. This extreme variability is
not of common occurrence in the class Insecta, or even in the
Animal Kingdom, at least to the extent of prevailing over an entire
family containing 8000 species. It may well lead us to reflect on the
principle which has attended the process of origination of forms, and
has led to the retention, unaltered, of portions of their structure, whilst
the rest have become modified, thus enabling naturalists, in the
majority of cases, to classify them. This principle is the great ally
of the systematist, although he troubles himself so little with inquiry
into its nature. It is this which has retained the internal bony
skeleton in the class Vertebrata, whilst all the rest of the structure is
changed in one or other of the component families—organs of respi-
ration and locomotion, limbs, skin, as well as clothing and habits. If
we except the two or three primary divisions of the Longicorns, there is
no portion of structure which retains a given form throughout a number
of species, sufficient to form a well-defined genus of ordinary length or
a group of genera. As M. Lacordaire expresses it, “ Les caractéres les
plus importants s’altérent, s’effacent et disparaissent, avec une rapidité
désespérante.” It surely is not too much to say that if such instability
were a general feature of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, classi-
fication would have been impossible, and Linnzus himself would have
striven in vain; yet its existence throughout the extensive secondary
groups of the Longicorn Coleoptera shows, that stability of some struc-
tural characters and modification of others—in other words, the forma-
tion of natural genera—is not an invariable accompaniment of the
process of creation, and I think the subject has not yet received all
the attention it deserves or will eventually receive.
One of the works to which I alluded as bearing on the question of the
origin of species is a treatise entitled “ Entomologische Beitrage zur
Beurtheilung der Darwin’schen Lehre von der Enstehung der Arten,”
published early in the past year, in the concluding part of the
‘Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift’ for 1867, at page 327. The
writer, Herr von Kieseuwetter, is an author of wide reputation, and
belongs to what I think may be fittingly called the Berlin school of
Entomologists—a class who have distinguished themselves more
especially as rigid systematists, being known for their acute and
profound investigations into the characters of varieties, species, genera,
and higher groups, in their application to classification. Some of the
Ixvi
best monographs of our day, such as those of Erichson and Ger-
sticker, have been the work of members of this school, and three of
them, Schaum, Kraatz and von Kiesenwetter, are the authors of
volumes of the well-known faunistic work, the ‘Insecten Deutsch-
lands,’ in which the Coleopterous fauna of Germany is treated, not as
faunas usually are, as a collection of species independent of the rest
of the world, but as forming portion of a wider field, with which, to be
intelligible, it must be continually compared. The Berlin Entomolo-
gists, so far as they have hitherto expressed themselves, have been
opposed to the theory of the gradual, natural formation of species.
We have not any published account of the opinions they have held,
except some short notes of the late Dr. Schaum, in which, discus-
sing the subject of the origination of well-marked local varieties of °
the genus Carabus, he announced his belief that the varieties had not
been produced by migration and subsequent modification, but were
created originally as local varieties. The same view, as is well known,
is held by Professor Agassiz, who believes that a vast number of indi-
viduals of each species were simultaneously created over the whole
area of its distribution; ‘‘ creation,” according to these authors, im-
plying a miracle, or at least, a process lying beyond the field of human
investigation. Von Kiesenwetter is the first of these learned Entomo-
logists to announce his conversion to the opposite doctrine, namely,
that local varieties have originated by modification of individuals
which have migrated to. the localities, that they have become
further modified into species, and that the process by which this
is effected is Natural Selection, as expounded by Darwin. He
states that he has been gradually forced into the adoption of this view
by the facts of variation presented to him, in the field and in the
closet, whilst studying the European genus Oreina, an alpine group of
Chrysomelide, abounding on the mountains of Central and Southern
Kurope. In the introductory paragraphs of his memoir, he states the
Darwinian theory with great clearness and aceuracy, showing how well
he has studied its meaning,—unlike most other critics, naturalists as
well as mere littérateurs,—and one is prepared to find in the sequel
that, in understanding, he has accepted it. The objects which furnish
the evidence that has had so much weight with him are certain species
of Oreina, such as O. senecionis, speciosa, intricata and others. He
appears first to have been struck with the fact, that whilst on some
mountain ranges two or more of these species exist in great pro-
fusion, and show no signs, by the occurrence of intermediate forms, &c.,
ixvii
of their being other than perfectly good and true species, in other alpine
localities intermediate forms do occur, proving that the two or more
species there blend together. He found cases also in which the for-
mation of two or more distinct species was not quite complete, as
proved by the occurrence of a very few individuals of the connecting
varieties. Indeed authors had accepted these species as perfectly
good ones, until further research revealed the existence of these rare
varieties, when they were just as ready to treat the whole as varieties,
as they were formerly to consider them as species. The fact of a
species existing, structurally and functionally, as a species in one
locality and as a mere variety in another, was not to be explained away
by the argument, that the species were originally distinct, but had
become blended by hybridization ; for the effect of such hybridization
after a few generations would have been to blend the whole of the allied
species into one variable form; besides it would only shift the problem
a step further, and we should have to inquire how the species origi-
nated in the first instance. ‘There was no alternative for a naturalist
demanding a rational explanation of such facts, but to accept the con-
clusion that species have no absolute permanent existence, but that
changes intermittingly and slowly take place by their spreading
over wider and wider areas, and adjusting themselves in structure
and habits to the altered nature of the local conditions. Where there
are numerous varieties in a locality, the process of variation and adapta-
tion has not been completed ; where well-defined species occur in more
distant situations, the adjustment is, for the time, accomplished, and
the connecting varieties between such species and their sister-forms,
existing elsewhere, only betray the gradations of modification which
have been passed through. I may be permitted here to remark that I
have myself recorded a series of facts similar to those published by
Herr von Kiesenwetter, with regard to the Heliconiide of South
America, and have given a precisely similar explanation of them, so
long ago as 1862, in the twenty-third volume of the Transactions of
the Linnean Society, page 530.
The memoir of Herr von Kiesenwetter, as well as the series of
facts brought out by myself on the Heliconiidez, prove, I think, the
importance of the study of Geographical Distribution, in con-
nection with the supreme question of the Origin of Species.
The ‘facts of distribution, correctly and minutely noted, will pro-
bably supply more satisfactory data for the discussion of this question
than any other class of facts in the domain of Natural History.
Ixvill
Mr. Darwin himself founds his theory, in the first place, on the results
of domestication and cultivation; but the objection felt to the evidences
of modification thus obtained—namely, that in domestication species
are placed under artificial conditions and yield results dissimilar to
those observed in free Nature—is not easy to overcome. In noting the
modification of species in their natural state, as accompanying the
differences of local conditions under which we find them, which is
what I mean by the facts of distribution, we see the operation of
changes independent of artificial interference; and once admitting
that species do slowly and intermittently extend their areas of dis-
semination, and that certain local forms are modifications of their
sister-forms, the whole process of the formation of species by natural
means lies straightway open to our investigation, the steps of modifi-
cation being capable of proof, by logical induction, after the premisses
just mentioned are granted. Having attempted to follow this line of
investigation in the case of several species and groups of species of
insects, I have been surprised to find how defective are most of our
collections in suites of specimens, and our books in recorded facts of
this nature. Few Entomologists lay themselves out to collect series
of specimens illustrative of this subject: I can assure them from
experience that they would find it most interesting to doso. It is not
sufficient to collect the varieties inhabiting a limited region, like the
British Isles, but to follow each species over the entire area of its dis-
tribution, both in a vertical and horizontal direction, ¢. e. up mountain
slopes, and over geographical areas, and obtain specimens from every
place where varieties occur.
Another important memoir of similarly wide interest to the one just
discussed has been recently read in England. 1 mean one on the
mimetic butterflies of Southern Africa, by Mr. Roland Trimen, which
will shortly be published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society.
The process of adaptation of varieties of a species to different local
conditions, and their great modification, is here expounded in the genus
Papilio, especially in the remarkable case of Papilio Merope. The
females of this species have a tendency to vary greatly from their
males, and to put on a disguise which assimilates them to one or
other species of Danais. It is a truly wonderful fact that at the Cape
of Good Hope and in Western Tropical Africa, the females imitate
species of Danais widely different in coloration, the males all re-
maining unchanged or nearly so, whilst in Madagascar the female
Ixix
has undergone no change of dress, being coloured like the male.
Mr. Trimen fully accepts the explanation I proposed six years ago,
which has been also carried out by Mr. Wallace, for this class of
phenomena, and il is naturally gratifying to us to find these observa-
tions and reasonings confirmed, in another part of the world, by so
able an observer.
In conclusion, gentlemen, let me thank you for the courtesy and
attention so unvaryingly shown to me during the year of my Presi-
dency that has expired, and assure you that I shall ever do all in
my power to increase the interest of our Meetings and promote the
welfare of our now old-established Society.
A vote of thanks to the President for his services during the past year, with a
request that the Address might be printed in the ‘ Proceedings,’ was proposed by
Mr. A. R. Wallace, seconded by Mr. Pascoe, and carried unanimously.
Thanks were also voted to the other Officers, and Members of the Council for
1868; and the votes were acknowledged by Mr. S. Stevens, Mr. Dunning and
Mr. Janson.
Mr. M‘Lachlan proposed, and Mr. W. C. Boyd seconded, a vote of thanks to the
Pro-President for his conduct in the chair. This was also carried unanimously; and
Mr. Frederick Smith made a suitable reply.
e L
xx
Abstract of the Treasurer’s Accounts for 1868.
ReEcEIPTs.
Lea
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», Donations, H. J. Fust, Esq. - - = - 25) (0210
- A Royal Society, per H. J. Fust, Esq. - 25: 0 0
- ‘ Frederick Bates, Esq. - - = = - 3 18 10
2 = J.W. Dunning, Esq. - - = 70 00
£447 16 10
PaYMENTS.
£s. d.
To Rent, Librarian, and Office Expenses - - - - 65 19 0
» Printing ‘ Transactions’ = L o = = 184 2 O
. * ‘Proceedings’ - = - - - - 14 O73:
», Plates, Engraving and Printing = - - - 61 16 6
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od » binding - - - - - - - StL teae
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To Loan of Mr. Dunning 45 0 0 | By Arrears of Subscriptions :—
Good (say) 18 18 O
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(cost)
5, Cash Balance in hand - 5 12 ©
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Less Liabilities 45 0 ©
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0
() Texte)
TIDE Xe
Norz.—Where the name only of an Insect is mentioned, the description
of the Insect will be found at the page referred to.
The Arabic Figures refer to the pages of the ‘Transactions ;’ the Roman
numerals to the pages of the ‘ Proceedings.’
PAGE PAGE
GENERAL SUBJECTS...... Ixxi | HYMENOPTERA .........00% lxxv
PARAGHNGDA: spccsssidenecses lxxii LEPIDOPTERA...+0ccsoeeeeee Ixxvi
COLEOPTERA «ccs. 0ccne0ns Ixxii NEUROPTERA ....2-:eceeeees Ixxvii
IDTBEMRA. 1s ssceecaeetoetens lxxv ORTHOPTERBA .+++csscerseeee xxviii
FLEMIPTERA .000csscesseves Ixxv
a
GENERAL SUBJECTS.
Anniversary Address of the President for 1868, ly.
Annual Report of the Council for 1868, lil.
Beetles burying themselves underground, ix, 1.
Boheman, death of, xi.
Bugong moth of Australia, ii—vii.
Butterflies, at sea, vii.
social larva of, 136, xv.
Coffee-borer, notes on the, 105, ii, xix, xxviii.
Duration of life of honey bee, 225.
Dwarf insects, xxxviii, xlii, xlix.
Exhibition of useful and destructive insects at Paris, xxiii.
of bees, honey, &e., at Milan, xlii.
Felder’s ‘ Reise der Novara,’ date of publication, vii.
Galls, note on, xxxix.
Generic nomenclature, notes on, xlii—xlvili.
Gynandromorphous insects, ii, ix, xxxviii, xlii.
spider, viii.
=]
©
( lxxn )
GENERAL SUBJECTS—continued.
Homologies of the Ovipositor, 141, 1.
Hybrid insect, xvi.
Juniper twigs, insects in, xv.
Mosquitoes, alleged plague of, in England, xxxix.
Nests of wasps and bees, curious positions of, xxxii, xlix.
Numerical disproportion of sexes, x, Xi, xiv.
Origin of Species, remarks on, Ixy—lxviii.
Ovipositor, homologies of, 141, 1.
Parasites, 1.
Petroleum oil, for destroying insects, xxxii.
Priority in generic nomenclature, xlii.
Simultaneous copulation of two males with one female, xxvii
Social larve of butterfly, 136, xv.
moth, x.
Swarm of beetles, xlii—of gnats, xxxix.—of moths, ii—vil.
Treasurer’s Accounts for 1868, Ixx.
Types of genera, note on, xlii.
Variation in the Longicorn beetles, remarks on, Ixiii—lxy.
Varieties, xvi, xxiv, xxvi, xxxvili, xl, xlii, xlix.
Wasp’s nests, curious positions of, xxxii, xlix.
ARACHNIDA.
Epeiva, Ichneumon larva parasitic on, 1.
Pholeus, gynandromorphous, viii.
COLEOPTERA.
Acosmus capensis, note on, 325.
Adiatoria (n. g.), 315.—Jansoni, 316.
Agrilus auwrovittatus, 63.—hypoleucus, 62.
Alemeonis (n. g.), 270.—pulchra, 271.
Anano (nu. g.), 272.—brevicornis, 273.
Anilara Adelaide, 19.
Anthores (n. g.), Xili.
Aprostoma, note on, 1.
Artactes (nu. g.) nigritarsis, xii.
Aryenis (nu. g.), 309.—rufescens, 310.
Asphalus (n. g.) ebeninus, xil.
Asthreus Samouelli, 10.
Ateuchus sacer, habit of, xxv.
Biwvadus (n. g.), xii.
Blepegenes (n. g.) aruspew, xii.
( lxxiii )
COLEOPTERA—continued.
Buprestide, note on some Fabrician species, xiii.
of Australia, described by Hope, revision of, 1.
Burmeisteria (n. g.) mirabilis, 101.
Bycrew (un. g.) villosa, xii.
Calodema regalis, 22.
Castalia bimaculata, 22.
Cerosterna gladiator, destructive to forest trees in Madras, xviii.
Chalcotenia albivittis, 6.—Lamberti, 7.
Chileone (n. g.) Deyrollii, 264.
Chromomea pallida, 319.—Pascoei, 317.—rufescens, 320.— wnicolor, 320.
—vittata, 318.
Chrysobothris Australasia, 54.
Chrysodema gigas, 5.
Cinyra spilota, 11.
Cisseis acuducta, 60.—cupreicollis, 58.—duodecimguttata, 57.—Gouldit, 58.
—leucosticta, 57.—roseocuprea, 61.—signaticollis, 57.—similis, 59.
—suturalis, 60.
Clytus wrietis, in the British Museum, xvi.
Coffee-borer, notes on the, 105, ii, xix, xxviii.
Curis aurifera, 21.—caloptera, 21.
Cyphogastra farinosa, 7.
Cyria imperialis, 3.—vittigera, 3.
Dedrosis (n. g.), 266.—ambigua, 269.—crenato-striata, 268,
Dechius scissicollis, 265, 266.
Dermestes, destruction caused by, i, ii.
Diadozus erythrurus, 4.—scalaris, 4.
Diestica (nu. g.) viridipennis, xii.
Drilus flawescens, female of, i, xxvii.
two males im cop. with one female, xxvii.
Dryocora (n. g.) Howitttit, x, xi.
Elestora (n. g.) fulgurata, xi.
Ethon affine, 56.—fissiceps, 56.—Roei, 54.—subfasciatum, 55.
Eudianodes (n. g.) Swanzii, xiii, xiv.
Eupromus (n. g.), Xii.
Euryspilus chalcodes, 11.
Gastrophysa polygomi, swarm of, xli.
Gempylodes, note on, 1,
Goniadera interrupta, 312.
Heteromera, new genera and species, 259, 309.
Hypaulae (n. g.), 259.—marginata, 261.—oblonga, 263.—ovalis, 263.—
sinuaticollis, 261.—tarda, 262.
Licymnius (nu. g.), 271.—foveicollis, 272; note on, 317. 5
cc
( ix
COLEOPTERA—continued.
Longicornia, remarks on variation of, lxiii—lxv.
Lucanus cervus, hybernating underground, ix.
Mecedoamwn, note on, |. ]
Melobasis ewpriceps, 15.—gloriosa, 14.—Lathami, 17.—metallifera, 16.—
nervosa, 18.—propinqua, 15.—pyritosw, 13.—splendida, 14.—
superba, 14.—verna, 17.
Meloe, habit of, xxv.
Merimna atrata, 18.
Micropeplus Staphylinoides, larva of, 275-
Nascio Parryi, 9.—vanthura, 8.
Neoewrs Fortnumi, 19.—Guerinii, 20.
Nessiara histrio, xi.
Opephorus (n. g.) signator, xiii.
Orcopagia (nu. g.) monstrosa, xii.
Oreina, remarks on yariation of species, lxvi-
Orobychus (nu. g.) Lacordairii, xii.
Othelecta vestita, 269.
Otiorhynchus picipes, destroying rose trees, xxv-
Oxycorynus hydnore, xiv.
Paracephala pistacina, 63.
Plagiope chrysochloris, 12.—cuprifera, 13.
Prospheres awrantiopicta, 7.
Psydus (nu. g.) plantaris, xii.
Sternocera, underground, l.
Stigmodera amabilis, 35.—amphichroa, 45.—anchoralis, 39.—Andersoni,
42.—assimilis, 47.—Australasie, 37.—bicincta, 44.—Bremei,
52.—Burehellii, 38.—cancellata, 25.—coccinata, 51.—consan-
guinea, 49.—crenata, 41.—cruenta, 34.—cruentata, 44.—cyant-
collis, 44.—cyanura, 31.—decem-maculata, 46.—delectabilis,
40.—Erythromelas, 36.—flawocincta, 26.—flavopicta, 48.—
Fortnumi, 27.—Gorii, 23.— grandis, 26.—gratiosa, 25.—hema-
tica, 29.—hilaris, 52.—Hoffmanseggit, 36.—Hopei, 39.—iospi-
lota, 41.—Kirbyi, 46.—Klugii, 34.—limbata, 27.—macularia,
23.—Mitchellit, 28.—octospilota, 46.—Parryi, 25.—pheorrhea,
43.—Pertii, 50.—picta, 46.—plagiata, 42.—Roei, 24.—rufi-
penis, 538.—sanguinipennis, 29.—sanguinosa, 24.—scalaris,
44.—semicincta, 33.—Sieboldi, 45.—signaticollis, 30.—simu-
lata, 37.—Spencii, 30.—spilota, 48.—suturalis, 27.—trifasciata,
47.—undulata, 34.—variabilis, 28.—vegeta, 45.—vicina, 43.—
canthopilosa, 49.—Yarrellii, 32.
Thysia viduata, xiii.
Xantholinus, larva of, with Hymenopterous parasite, xviii.
Xenostethus (n. g.), 321.—Lacordairti, 324.
Xylotrechus quadripes, 105, ii, xix, xxviii.
Xyroscelis crocata, 53.
€ bexy)
DIPTERA.
“Berna”? fly, of Brazil, 135.
Culex, abundance of, in 1868, xxxix.
‘““Warega”’ fly, of Brazil, 135.
HEMIPTERA.
Aphis inhabiting galls on elm, note on, viii.
Leptocorisw, injurious to rice crop in Ceylon, 1.
HYMENOPTERA.
Aculeata from Australia, descriptions of, 231.
Alurus volatilis, 237.
Ammophila ardens, 247.—impatiens, 247.
Aulacinus merens, 331.
Aulacus formosus, 330.—hemorrhoidellus, 331.—merens, 331.—nobilis,
329.—rufitarsis, 330.—spinifer, 331.—stigmaticus, 330.
Chalcidide, new species of, xxxii, xxxv.
. Crabro neglectus, 249.—nigromaculatus, 249.—tridentatus, 250.
Crocisa albo-maculata, 258.
Dimorphoptera (n. g.), 238.—clypeata, 240.—fastwosa, 240.—morosa, 239.
nigripennis, 239.—scoliiformis, 238.
Euchorissa (n. g.), XXXvi.—speciosa, xxxvii.—Natalica, xxxvii.
Gastropsis (n. g.), XXxix, 253.
Gorytes ornatus, 248.
Honey bee, duration of life of, 225,
number of progeny of queen, 227, 228.
Ichneumon larva, parasite on spider, 1.
Lamprocolletes rubellus, 253.
Lithurgus cognatus, 255.
Megachile fabricator, 256.—fumipennis, 257.—imitata, 257.—monstrosa,
256.—nasuta, 258.—sexmaculata, 257.
Nests of wasps and bees, notes on, xix, 1.
Nomadina (n. g.) Smithit, 328.
Odynerus, curious position of nest of, xxxii.
Gstropsis (n. g.) pubescens, 253.
name Gastropsis substituted, xxxix.
Ophion macrurus, parasitic on Saturnia Cynthia, xxxil.
Paragia concinna, 251.—morosa, 251.—nasuta, 252.—vespiformis, 250.
Pelecinella (n. g.) phastasma, xxxv.
Pelopeus, curious positions of nests, xlix.
Pison nitidus, 248.
Pompilus distinctus, 242.—diversus, 243.—infondus, 244,—irritabilis, 243.
—lugubris, 242.—melancholicus, 244.—tricolor, 242.—velow, 241.
— vespoides, 244.
( lxxvi )
HYMENOPTERA—continued.
Priocnemis affectata, 245.—defensor, 245.—ephippiata, 246.—Polydorus,
246.
Proctotrupes, parasitic on Coleopterous larva, xviii.
Scolia (Dielis) intrudens, 241.
Sibyllina (n. g.) enigmatica, 329, xli.
affinities of, 1—lii.
Solenura (n. g.) telescopica, Xxxvi.
Sphew argentifrons, 248.
Stenotritus smaragdinus, 254.
Tachypterus albo-pictus, 237.
Thawmasura (n. g.) terebrator, XXXv1.
Thynnus audaw, 234.—baccatus, 236.—campanularis, 232.—conspicuus,
233.—impetuosus, 233.—incensus, 236.—irritans, 235.—oblongus,
232.—ochrocephalus, 231.—seductor, 234.—subinterrwptus, 235.
Trigona mosquito, observations on, 133.
Trigonalys jucunda, 327.—lugubris, 328.—pulchella, 327.
Wasp, curious position of nest, xxxii, xlix.
LEPIDOPTERA.
Acrea Anacreon, 77.
Ageronia Amphinome, note on pupa, xxv.
Agrotis spina, bugong moth, swarms of, li—vii.
Anaphe reticulata, social larva of, x.
Antispila Rivillii, note on, xvii.
Apatura Ionia, note on, Vii.
Tris, variety of, xlix.
Aphneus Caffer, 88.
Bombyx quercus, gynandromorphous, ii.
Yamomai, in Britain, ii, xvii.
Butterfly, social larva of, 136, xv.
Castnia, note on larva, xxv.
Catocala frawini, captured at Eastbourne, xlii.
Crambus myellus, new to Britain, xlii, xlix.
Cyclopides Hgipan, 94.—Syrina, 93.
Delonewra (nu. g.) vrmaculata, 81.
Dianthecia capsincola, variety of, xl.
Diurnal Lepidoptera of Europe, India, and North America, comparison
of, XXxiii.
Halias quercana, unequally developed, xxvi.
Hesperia Comma, variety of, xlix.
Hypercallia Christierninana, notes on, vii, xxiv, xxvi.
( lxxvn )
LEPIDOPTERA—continued.
Leptoneura cassina, observations on, 283.
Leucania albipuncta, new to Britain, xxxix, xli.
Limenitis Sibylla, negroes of, xlii.
Lycena Barber, 89.—Notobia, 91.—Otacilia, 90.—T somo, 91.
Mycalesis Caffra, LHusirus, and Evenus, note on, 286.
Nemophora Carteri, note on, xvi.
Neope dendrophilus, note on, 285.
Nepticula ewphorbiella, xvi.
Opostega reliquella, note on, Vii.
Pamphila dysmephila, 96.—Mackenit, 95.
Panopea Tarquinia, 79.
Papilio Echerioides, 72.—Euphranor, 70.
Machaon, in the Hudson’s Bay Territory, xli.
Turnus, a 2 coloured like the ¢ , xxxix.
© Pieride of the Indian and Australian Regions,’’ remarks on, 97.
Pieris Rape, spread of, in North America, xi.
Polia nigrocincta, from the Isle of Man, xli.
Polyommatus Adonis, varieties of, xlii.
Prioneris Watsonit, 100.
Pseudonympha Sabacus and Trimenii, note on, 284.
Pyrameis, at sea, vii.
Pyrgus Sandaster, 92.
Saturnia Pavonia-minor, emerging from cocoon tail-foremost, xvii.
Saturniide, habits of, xxvii.
Scoparia Zelleri, new to Britain, xxxix.
Strenia clathrata, supposed variety of, xxxviii.
Tachyris Jacquinotii, note on, xviii.
Tapinostola Elymi, capture of, xl.
Tinew (?) alpicella, 137.
larva of, in antelope’s horn, ii.
Tortrio heparana and viridana, in coitu, xxvii.
Vanessa Urticw, dwarfs of, xxxviii, xlix.
Yphthima Lisandra, note on, 287.
Zelleria sawifrage, 137.
Zeritis Chrysantas, 85.—Lyncurium, 86.—Sardonyz, 83.
Zygena Filipendule, dwarfs from the Isle of Man, xxxviii.
NEUROPTERA.
Agrypnia picta, new to Britain, xxxix.
Anam mediterraneus, in Italy, xviii.
Arctopsyche (un. g.), 300.
Boreus, British species of, 218.
( Ixxvii )
NEUROPTERA—continued.
Cenis macrura, on the anatomy of, 279.
Chrysopa, British species of, 196.
Coniopteryx, British species of, 182.—hematica, n. sp., 193, n.
Dolophilus (n. g.), 301.—copiosus, 3038.
Drepanepteryx, British species of, 190.
Enecyla pusilla, in England, xxiv, xxxii, xli.
Halesus Muelleri, 292.—rectus, 295.—trifidus, 294.
Hemerobius, British species of, 174.—atrifrons, n. sp., 184.—inconspicuus,
Me Spent. .
Megalomus, British species of, 189.
Micromus, British species of, 171.
Newronia Lapponica, note on, 290.—Stalii, 289.
Nothochrysa (n. g.), 195.—British species of, 207.—Extra-Britannic
species of, 208.
Oligoplectrum morosum, 297.
Osmylus, British species of, 165.
Panorpa, British species of, 209.
Planipennia, Monograph of British species, 145.
Synonymic Catalogue of, 220.
Psectra, British species of, 169.
Raphidia, British species of, 153.
Rhyacophila, notes on species of, 304.
Sericostoma Carinthiacum, 296.—faciale, 296.
Setodes mestella, 298.
Sialis, British species of, 151.
Sisyra, British species of, 166.
Stenophylaw algosus, 290.—alpestris, note on, 291.
Trichoptera, new species of European, 289.
ORTHOPTERA.
Anostostoma (?), from Cape of Good Hope, xxxix.
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