a vibrating bell. This illustration gave experimental demonstration of the action of the stridulating apparatus of the Pterinoxylus mentioned at the last meeting by Mr. Wood-Mason.
A discussion followed, in which Messrs. Wood-Mason, M'Lachlan and F. Smith took part;
Mr. J.W. Dunning called the attention of the Society to a paper recently published in the 'Proceedings' of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (vol. iii., part ii., Feb. 12th, 1877), "On a striking instance of Mimicry, with some Notes on the Phenomenon of Protective Resemblance," by Mr. Neville Goodman, M.A. The insect mimicked is the well-known hornet, Vespa orientalis, which is found commonly round the shores of the Mediterranean, and extends through Upper Egypt, Syria and Arabia, into Hindostan. The imitator is a species of Laphria, the resemblance consisting in similarity of colour, size, shape, attitude when at rest, and mode of flight. The author points out that the word "mimicry" is best applied to cases of resemblance of one living being to another, and suggests that the term "protective resemblance" should be confined to cases of assimilation to stones, sticks, bark, lichens, dead leaves, &c.[1] The author also refers to the fact that the phenomenon of resemblance (both mimetic and protective) is one of degree, and insists that this fact is entirely in favour of the view of the production of such resemblances through the agency of the "survival of the fittest," but is quite inexplicable on the teleological view of the origin of species.
The Secretary directed attention to a letter in 'Nature' (Nov. 15th, 1877, p. 45), detailing some experiments made upon Abraxas grossulariata, which tended to show that the insect was sensitive to certain souuds, and remarked that these facts appeared to lend experimental support to the existence of an organ of hearing in Lepidoptera, as recently described by Mr. A.H. Swinton (Ent. Mo. Mag., Nov. 1877).
Mr. F. Smith read a paper containing "Descriptions of new Species of Hymenopterous Insects of New Zealand, collected by Prof. Hutton at Otago." The author exhibited a collection of the insects in illustration of the paper, in which seventeen new species are described.
Mr. A.G. Butler read a paper "On the Lepidoptera of the Amazons collected by Dr. James W.H. Trail during the years 1873 to 1875."
Dr. Sharp communicated "Descriptions of eight new Species and a new Genus of Cossonides from New Zealand," and "Descriptions of some new Species and a new Genus of Rhynchophorous Coleoptera from the Hawaian Islands."—R. Meldola, Hon. Sec.
- ↑ I have previously insisted on this distinction (Proc. Zool. Soc, Feb. 4, 1873). — R.M.
