"Mecynotarsus albellus, n. sp.

"M. testaceus, pube densa alba tectus; parte prothoracis protensa breviuscula, ovata, dentibus quadratis rubris undecim instructa; elytris humeris productorotundatis; pedibus antennisque testaceis.

Long. lin. 14.

Hab.-Fremantle."

But the most remarkable insect in the collection was an entirely new form, also found in ants' nests, for which the name of Ectrephes formicarum was proposed, and of which the following description was read:

“ECTREPHES, n. g.

"Caput insertum, subtus inclinatum, fronte pro receptione antennarum profunde excavata. Oculi parvi, rotundati. Mandibulæ rostriformes. Antennæ triarticulatæ; articulo basali breviter obcouico; secundo minuto; tertio elongato, compresso, apice oblique truncato. Prothorax transversus, utrinque pone apicem emarginatus, lateribus carinato-alatis. Elytra breviter ovata, convexa. et tibiæ compressæ; tarsi 5-articulati, elongati, filiformes.

"Ectrephes formicarum, n. sp.

Femora

"E. ommino fusco-castaneus; elytris nitidis, pilis minutis erectis valde dispersis. Long. lin. 1. Hab.-Fremantle.

"The position of Ectrephes is uncertain; the fact of the elytra closely embracing and covering the abdomen cuts it off from the Pausside; in its 3-jointed antennæ it approaches Gnostus, Westw., another isolated genus. The antennæ arise from a cavity in front of the head, and the latter is so bent down that the mandibles almost touch the anterior coxæ. The metasternum is very short, and the intermediate and posterior coxæ are therefore closely approximate on each side, but widely apart as regards their fellows. The anterior coxæ are exserted, cylindrical and divergent. The abdominal segments appear to be only four in number, owing probably to the union of the second and third; counting it as one only, that segment is of large size, whilst the third is reduced to a mere line. I regret that I have not successfully extracted the mouth, but so far as I could judge the mentum was very small, with two large fusiform palpi; I could not distinguish the maxillary lobes, of which Gnostus has one only, and that very minute. I hope to give a figure of the insect, and to enter into further details on a future occasion."

Prof. Westwood considered Ectrephes to belong to the Paussidæ, notwithstanding that the abdomen was entirely covered by the elytra.

July 2, 1866.-Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., President, in the chair.

Additions to the Library.

The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors :Hewitson's Exotic Butterflies,' Part 59; presented by W. W. Saunders, Esq.

·

The

Zoologist' for July; by the Editor. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine' for July; by the Editors.

The following additions by purchase were also announced:-Aubé, 'Pselaphorum Monographia'; Chevrolat, 'Coléoptères du Mexique'; A. de Norguet, 'Catalogue des Coléoptères du Départment du Nord'; J. Thomson, Arcana Naturæ'; Westwood, Arcana Entomologica.'

Election of Members.

The Hon. Thomas De Grey, M.P., of 23, Arlington Street, and Christopher Ward, Esq., of Halifax, were elected Members.

Exhibitions, &c.

Mr. Stainton exhibited larvæ of Laverna phragmitella in a head of Typha latifolia ; and specimens of the Gelechia, very like G. leucomelanella, bred from Gypsophila saxifraga, to which reference was made at the two previous Meetings.

Mr. Bond exhibited a specimen of Dianthæcia cæsia taken by Mr. Hopley in the Isle of Man, where the species had recently been discovered by Mr. Gregson (see 'The Entomologist,' vol. iii. p. 103).

Mr. Edwin Shepherd exhibited an old specimen of the same species, from Bentley's collection, labelled "casia," in the hand-writing of the late Mr. Bentley. This specimen was reputed to have been captured in Yorkshire; and the fact that it precisely resembled the specimens from the Isle of Man (which differed from the typical Continental form of the insect, and seemed to be a permanent variety) was in favour of the British origin of Mr. Bentley's specimen.

Mr. Bond also exhibited a Phycita captured in the Isle of Man by Mr. Hopley, and which he believed would prove to be a new species; specimens of Sesia philanthiformis bred from pupæ sent to him by Mr. Greening from the Isle of Man; and a series of bred specimens of Papilio Machaon from Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, remarkable for their large size, as were most of the specimens of that butterfly which he had bred during the present season.

Mr. Edward Saunders exbibited a collection of Mexican butterflies, amongst which were Papilio Asclepias and others of that genus, and a gynandromorphous Euterpe (sp.), of which the right side was male, the left female.

Mr. S. Stevens exhibited Dicranocephala Wallichii from North India, and D. Bowringii from South China.

The Secretary read the following extracts from the 'Journal of the Society of Arts' of 29th June, 1866:

"Insect Wax.-The trade in this article in China is large. In 1864, from the single port of Hankow alone, 5100 cwt. were exported. It is taken by the Chinese as medicine, but is principally used as stearine in the manufacture of candles. It is one of the most valuable of the many products of Sze-Chuen, being worth sixty and seventy taels per picul (133 fbs). The wax is deposited, for the protection of its eggs, by an insect which inhabits the trees on which the wax is secreted. The formation of the wax was a subject which occupied the especial attention of M. Simon, a French savant, who, a year or two ago, passed a considerable time in the interior, during which he is said to have traversed the greater portion of Sze-Chuen, and to have

reached the eastern confines of Thibet." (See Proc. Ent. Soc. 1853, pp. 93-95, as to this Coccus-product).

"Protection of Trees from Insects.-The following simple method of preserving fruit from the ravages of insects is recommended by the Imperial Society of Practical Horticulture of the Rhone, and by the director of the School of Arboriculture of the Parc de la Fête d'Or at Lyons. The quantity of fruit destroyed by insects that deposit their eggs in the blossoms is enormous. These creatures are said to have a great antipathy to vinegar, the mere odour of which is enough to drive them away, and, in some cases, to destroy them, and nothing more is required than to sprinkle the branches with a mixture of vinegar and water at the moment the blossoms begin to appear. The mixture recommended consists of one part of vinegar to nine parts of water, but as French vinegar is very strong, perhaps the amount of water should be less when English vinegar is used. When the liquids are well mixed, the solution is to be sprinkled over the flower-buds by means of a garden engine or syringe, or even with a watering-pot with a fine rose. M. Denis, the director of the school referred to, tried the experiment last year, and reports that fruit trees so treated were covered with fruit, while those to which the acidulated water was not applied bore scarcely any. The other remedy proposed is against ants and other insects which mount the steins of trees. Take common lamp-oil, and expose it in the sun for three or four days, or until it acquires a gummy consistency and very disagreeable smell, then with a small paint-brush paint around the tree at about two feet from the ground, a band of the oil two inches wide, repeating the operation for three or four successive days. It is said that this method will protect the tree for four years at least. Perhaps coal tar might be found to answer the same purpose."

Mr. Stainton said that he had recently received a communication from M. Milliére respecting the injury done to crops of rye in the neighbourhood of St. Etienne; Dr. Maurice, of that place, had directed his attention to the subject, but being unable to detect the author of the so-called "epidemic in the rye," had applied to M. Milliére. Mr. Stainton believed that the injury was caused by the larva of the Micro-Lepidopterous Ochsenheimeria taurella, which by burrowing in the stem caused the ear to wither away.

Mr. Pascoe said that last year (see 'Proceedings,' 1865, p. 90) he had read a note respecting insects alighting on the snow in high mountain regions, and sinking into it from the melting of the snow by the radiation of heat from the insect; in 'The 'Zoologist' for the present month, Mr. Albert Müller, in commenting on the above communication, quotes from F. von Tschudi's Thierleben der Alpenwelt' the following passage:-"Winged insects, which are often carried by the wind to the upper snowfields, will sink into these sometimes two feet deep, and it has been observed that these creatures settle voluntarily on the firn' [that state of the snow when its surface is held together by thin plates or crystals of ice is so designated], extending their wings and limbs, and that they rest in this position at their ease without moving, it being probable that they enjoy the absorption of the oxygen of the firm.' If they are taken up and removed to a stone or a piece of wood, they will at once proceed to the 'firn,' where they extend themselves as if inebriated, and gradually sink in, (seemingly) in full enjoyment. Dug out of a depth of two feet, they sometimes get lively again very quickly; otherwise, if left to themselves, they soon perish and at once get decomposed,

and then the sinking in will cease. It has been tried to place dead insects on the 'firn,' when the body was found to swell up to a soft mass, then to shrink very much and afterwards to decay; after this the 'firn' closes itself over it, which does not easily happen with living insects." Mr. Müller suggests that the lumps of peat found in several of the holes were the sediment of the decayed bodies of the insects, perhaps increased in size by dust or fine sand so often carried by heavy gales; and adopts the theory that the holes were formed by the radiation of heat from the insects. Mr. Pascoe did not, however, believe that radiation alone would account for insects sinking to the depth of two feet; he thought that long before they reached such a depth they would have exhausted the heat already absorbed, and would be concealed from the sun's rays by the imminent snow, and thus be prevented from absorbing more heat. On the Monte Moro the holes were about an inch in depth.

Prof. Westwood had observed bees which had been tempted out of the hive by early sunshine to fall on the snow; becoming benumbed by the cold, they lay without action, and gradually descended, so far at all events as that the whole of the body was below the level of the snow.

Prof. Brayley (who was present as a visitor) criticized von Tschudi's explanation of the reason for the insects settling on the 'firn,' and wished to know whence the oxygen was supposed to be derived; he suspected that von Tschudi had in his mind the old and exploded notion that pure oxygen was given off during the melting of snow, or that the water of melted snow contained an extraordinary quantity of oxygen. Insects, however small, would from the texture of their wings absorb heat very readily, and when placed on the snow they would by radiation give it off again, probably with equal rapidity; the melting of the snow, the formation of a cavity, and the descent of the insect, would be the natural result; but he was not able to account for an insect sinking to the considerable depth of two feet, as mentioned by von Tschudi. He should like to ask Mr. Pascoe whether the diameter of the hole in the snow greatly exceeded the expanse of the out-stretched insect? He imagined it would not.

Mr. Pascoe replied that the insects, when taken out of the cavities, were wet and limp, and their wings became clogged together, so that he could not speak with accuracy as to their admeasurement; he thought, however, that the breadth of the expanded wings would be nearly equal to the diameter of the hole.

The President said that he also had noticed similar holes in the snow when crossing some of the Alpine passes, though at the time he had not bestowed upon them the attention which it now appeared they deserved.

The President called attention to a paper by M. Balbiani, published in the 'Comptes Rendus,' June 4, 1866, in which the writer propounded a theory that the Aphides are hermaphroditic. According to M. Balbiani's observations, each ovarian tube possesses an enlarged end which contains a group of cells; one of these, which occupies the centre and is surrounded by the others, is the most important, "car elle représente l'élément générateur ou la cellule mère de tous les ovules qui, dans chaque gaine, sont destinés à se transformer en embryous;" the peripheral cells nourish the central one; when the ovule enters the ovarian tube, it possesses a germinative vesicle and spot; the latter soon disappears, and after it the vesicle also; during this time many nuclei become apparent in the surface of the vitellus, and condense round themselves the homogeneous substance of which it consists; these are the blastodermic

cells, which at this period are not surrounded by any membrane; the cells increase in number so as to cover the whole egg; after awhile an opening commences at the posterior end, and from it some of the contents protrude like a hernia; a delicate membrane is then visible inside the blastodermic cells; the hernial portion forms a connexion with the epithelial cells, and, when this is done, the vitelline vesicle contracts inside the blastoderm and divides into two secondary vesicles, of which the posterior one adheres to the epithelium, while the other remains free; these vesicles or cellules are the embryos of the sexual elements; each covers itself on the surface with a generation of small cellules which grow and continue to develope others; the posterior group is male, the anterior (the free one) is female; the latter remain colourless and are smaller than the male cellules, which become green or yellow (this is the pseudo-vitellus of Huxley); the mother vesicle soon disappears, while the male one increases and constitutes a reservoir of fecundating corpuscles; up to this time the embryonal development has not commenced, but from this point it proceeds regularly until the birth of the young Aphis.

Prof. Westwood was reminded, by the mention of Aphides, of a circumstance which had recently puzzled him. He had at Oxford some rose-trees which did not grow in the spring, but had only lately thrown out shoots; no sooner did a shoot appear, no matter how minute, than a fine fat Aphis was found upon it, and though the trees were carefully cleaned daily, yet morning after morning a fresh Aphis was on each bud. The Aphides were all apterous; they could scarcely have been blown upon the plants by the wind, since they occurred so constantly, and always on the youngest buds; the roses were planted away from any overhanging trees or shrubs; and he did not think the insects were hatched on the buds, since this would under the circumstances have required a retardation of the development of the eggs in order to keep time with the retarded development of the buds; he could only conclude that each night they had crawled up from the ground, but it was curious that they should be found exclusively on the smallest last-developed shoots.

Mr. Edward Sheppard had noticed the same thing on the young buds of jasmine, as if the Aphides had been born on and with the buds.

The Rev. Douglas C. Timins communicated the following notes on the larvæ of Charaxes Jasius and Melitæa Provencialis:

"It may interest some entomologists to know that I have succeeded in rearing the larvæ of the splendid Charaxes Jasius in England. In January of this year I obtained some young larvæ at Hyères. They grow very slowly, and in April were not nearly full fed. I brought them to England, and carefully fed them with Arbutus Unedo, placing their cage in the sun (they only feed in sun-light, as far as I have observed), and about the 15th of May some of them assumed the pupa state. On the 5th of June two specimens emerged; one, however, had the wings crippled. I have also bred Hesperia Althea and Melitæa Provencialis. The larva of the latter has not been described; its length when full fed is about an inch and a half; head black; body black, velvety, the back powdered with white dots; a stripe of white dots along each side; numerous jet-black spines on each segment; fore legs reddish brown, hind legs red; in societies, on Lonicera Balearica. The pupa is remarkably handsome, being white, with golden yellow rings chequered with black on each abdominal segment, and having the wing-cases marked with golden yellow and black; it is of course