Abstract
LONDON Entomological Society, September 1.—Robert McLachlan, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were elected Fellows:—The Rev. Prof. Dickson, D.D., and Messrs. P. Cowell, A. O. Walker, and Lyddon Surrage.—The President remarked with regard to the gnats from the Kent Waterworks, exhibited at the last meeting, that Prof. Westwood had since informed Mr. Douglas that they were only Culex pipiens.—Mr. Slater exhibited certain parasites found on the body of a larva of Smerinthus tiliœ, which Mr. Waterhouse believed to be Uropoda vegetans, a species of Acari.—Mr. W. Warren exhibited Eupithecia fraxinata, E. innotata, a variety of E. satyrata, a Gelechia caught in Wicken Fen twenty years ago by Mr. Bond, and believed to be a new species, G. fumatella, G. vilella, Lithocolhtis scabiosella, and Catoptria parvulana. He also exhibited larvae of Gelechia vilella.—Mr. South exhibited specimens of Dicrorampha distinctana, and stated that he considered it to be merely a local form of D. consortana, from which, in the larval stage, it could not be separated.—Mr. Stevens exhibited a living specimen of Clerus formicarius, recently found under the bark of an ash-tree in Arundel Park.—Mr. Billups exhibited Chrysis succincta, Linn., taken by sweeping at Chobham on July 28 last; he also exhibited Microphysa elegantula, taken at Broadstairs in August last.—The Rev. W. W. Fowler exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Theodore Wood, a larva of Langelandia anaphthaltna, a species new to Britain.—Mr. H. Goss exhibited specimens of Oxygastra Curtisi recently taken near Christchurch, Hants. He stated that he had met with the species in the same locaity in 1878, but had never seen it anywhere else in the United Kingdom, nor was he aware of any recent record of its capture. Mr. McLachlan observed that the species was taken many years ago in Dorsetshire by the late Mr. Dale, but that he knew of no recent captures except those recorded by Mr. Goss. He also made some remarks as to the distribution of the species on the continent of Europe.—Mr. McLachlan exhibited a specimen of Dilar mcridionalis taken by him in July last in the Pyrenees, also about 150 examples of the genus Chrysopa from the same district. Amongst them were C. vulgaris, perla, Walkeri, viridana, tenella, prasina, flava, septempunctata, flavifrons, and others not yet fully identified. He also exhibited a few Coleoptera from the same distiict, and remarked on the extraordinary abundance of a pretty Lamellicorn, which was so common as to give the meadows the appearance of being studded with multitudes of brilliant blue flowers.—Mr. C. O. Waterhouse called attention to the numerous-reports which had lately appeared in the newspapers of the supposed occurrence of the Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor) in Britain, and inquired whether any communication on the subject had reached the Society. The Rev. W. W. Fowler stated that he had been in communication with Miss Ormerod on the subject, and that she had informed him that neither the imago nor larva of the species had been seen, and that the identity of the species rested on the supposed discovery of the pupa.—Mr. A. H. Swinton communicated a paper entitled “The Dances of the Golden Swift.” In this paper the author expressed an opinion that the peculiar oscillating flight of the male of this and allied species had the effect of distributing certain odours for the purpose of attracting the females.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 34, 563–564 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034563a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034563a0