lxxviii Journal of Proceedings.
of the Oak were observed to be folded over at the margins, forming
elegant little lappets or "tents," each containing a larva. Mr. Fitch
supposed the gall to be the work of Cecidomyia inflexa, Bremi, a species
new to Britain. Very little appears to be known of it. Kaltenbach
says—" I found the larva repeatedly under smooth folded leaf lappets
on low Oak bushes. The full-fed larva? fall from these to the earth,
and there complete their metamorphoses." Mr. Cole also exhibited
specimens of the new Violet-gall (C. viola, described ante p. lxiv) from
Monk Wood.
Mr. N. F. Robarts exhibited a small geometriform caterpillar (of the
genus Eupithecia, either E. nanata or E. minutata), which he had
found upon the Common Ling in the Forest. It struck him as affording
a tolerably good ease of "mimicry"—the markings and colours of the
larva matching well the peculiar mottled, purple-and-white, appearance
of the faded flowers of the Calluna.
The President remarked that it would be well to limit the word
" mimicry " to denote those cases in which an insect copied the markings
of another insect, and to use the phrase "protective resemblance" to
express the imitation of the colours and forms of inanimate objects by
an insect or other living creature.
The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Dr. Snell, a flower-head of the
Common Onion, grown in a garden at Stoke Newington, showing an
abundance of adventitious buds or bulbs (bulbils), which eventually fall
off and produce new plants.
He also exhibited a fine specimen of the somewhat rare Longicorn
beetle, Prionus coriarius, which had been caught by his brother, B. G.
Cole, flying in the evening at Buckhurst Hill, on August 7th, 1882.
Mr. Compton Warner showed a walking-stick made out of the stalk of
the variety of the Cabbage commonly grown in Jersey for that purpose.
He had been told that the plant would not flourish so far north, but the
specimen exhibited had been grown in his own garden at Woodford.
The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Argent, some Humble-bees
(Bombi), which Mr. Argent had found in July last under a Lime tree in
South Devon. Some of the bees were eviscerated and quite dead when
found; others were alive, but seemed to be stupefied and scarcely able to
crawl. During a visit to South Weald, Essex, on August 7th last he
(the Secretary) had found (in company with Mr. Meldola, Mr. Argent,
and his brother) a very large number of Bombi lying under the Lime
trees near the village. None of these last were living, and nearly all the
specimens had been eviscerated. He had not been able to find references
to a similar occurrence in any entomological books, and had therefore
applied for information to a well-known hymenopterist, Mr. E. Saunders,
F.L.S. That gentleman was not prepared with an explanation, but
suggested that the bees might have been tempted by the abundant honey
of the Lime blossoms to remain out after sunset, and that then the cold
nights had numbed and killed them. Mr. McLachlan had suggested that