Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/417

Rh writer's signature without warrant, and this unfortunately passed through press, escaping our notice.—

 

August 1, 1877.— Esq., M.A., F.L.S., Vice-President, in the chair.

Mr. Stevens exhibited specimens of Teretrius picipes (Fab.), one of the Histeridæ, which he bad taken on the same fence, at Norwood, on which he had previously taken Tillus unifasciatus. He also remarked on the appearance in his neighbourliood of a second brood of Colias Edusa, several specimens having been observed by him, all of which were males.

Mr. Smith exhibited, on behalf of Dr. Bennett, of Sydney, who was present at the meeting, a fine pair of the beautiful and rare beetle Eupholus Bennettii (Gestro), from Yule Island, New Guinea. It had been described under that name in the 'Annali di Museo Civico di Geneva,' viii. 1876.

The Secretary exhibited a specimen of an insect which had been forwarded to him by Mr. Bewicke Blackburn, who stated that a large field of mangolds belonging to the Knight of Kerry, in the Island of Valentia, had been totally destroyed by it. The specimen was examined by several of the members, who agreed that it was the larva of a Coleopterous insect, but in consequence of its imperfect condition it could not be determined.

Mr. Douglas, who was unable to be present at the meeting, had forwarded to Mr. Jenner Weir a letter he had received from Mr. R.A. Ogilvie, enclosing specimens of an insect found in great quantities in a jar of pickles (piccalilly). They confined their attacks to the pieces of cauliflower in the jar, which they appeared to relish, notwithstanding the vinegar, mustard, pepper, &c., in the pickles. The specimens had been submitted to Professor Westwood, who replied that "the flies were the common Drosophila cellaris, with their curious two-horned pupæ; and they frequent cellars and cupboards, delighting in stale beer, wine, &c." He supposed that "the cauliflowers were more to their taste than the other things in the jar, being more succulent and flabby." In answer to a question put by Mr. Ogilvie, he said that the eggs were laid in the pickle-jar, and not in the vegetables before they were pickled.

Mr. Douglas also forwarded a letter he had received from Mr. A.H. Swinton, of Guildford, enclosing a specimen of Myrmica ruginodis, which, on being placed under a wine-glass, stationed itself at the rim, head downwards, and rapidly vibrating the abdomen, continued "an intense noise," resembling the spiracular piping of the Dipteron, Syrilla pipiens.

