( lxxxi )

moths which I have described. They are of about three timea the thickness of those in siviilis and clrrysorrhoerc and they appear to be covered with projections which may be described as resembling saw-teeth regularly arranged along their entire length.

There are no spicules so far as I have been able to discover. I may say tha t I am going into the whole matter more minutely and hope to have something more to say about it on a future occasion.

THE COCOONS OF THE AFRICAN LASIOCAMPID MOTH CHRYSO- PSYCHE VARIA, WALK. -Professor POULTON exhibited the imagines and cocoons of C . varin sent to him by Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter from Damba Island, 30 miles south-east of Entebbe. The larval skin was still projecting from some of the cocoons, and showing its bliie spots. The larvae had spun up November 12, 1911, and the moths emerged December 13.

Dr. CARPENTER had written, April 18, 1912, from lhgalla, one of the Sesse Islands :-

“The cocoons of Imago D 137 [Chiysopsyche ~ a r i a ] are pnr- ticularly interesting. The larvae are gregarious, resting freely exposed on the tree trunk by day, at sunset going up in a proces- sion to feed. When full-grown they are chocolate brown with blue patches and patches of glistening white short hairs-very conspicuous. The cocoon, when finished, has a hole at one end, through wJ&h the lama1 skin is pffirtly pushed out at pupation, and projects, showing the bright blue patches. Now as the moth makes a hole at the other end for its exit, the only explanation is that the aposematic larval skin is made use of to protect the pupa! I know of no other cocoon in which a hole is left especially for the extrusion of the larval skin. The cocoons are not especially exposed, in fact I had to search to find them: they were in a sheltered nook under fallen branches and amongst projecting roots. I left the larvae on the tree as they would not eat in confinement, but just wandered round and round the box in single file, head to tail, forming a com- plete ring, and looking very absurd ! Evidently they wanted the stimulus of climbing up the tree to make them eat.”

Professor POULTON said he had no doubt that Dr. Car- penter’s interpretation was correct. It required a very

PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., 111. 1912. F

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definite adaptation of instinct to produce the result. The cocoon had a very dense appearance, but it would be satis- factory to examine it befwe the extrusion of the larval skin and to watch the larva when spinning. It was by no means uncommon for procryptic colouring and habits to be combined with an aposematic second line of defence. He suggested that the use of the old larval skin might be com- pared with the still more elaborate instinct described by Portchinsky in a species of Lina (MeZasoma)-he believed L. tremulae, F. The larva of this Chrysomelid beetle, when disturbed, extruded a spherule of milk-white fluid at the aperture of each gland-duct opeuing on the skin, and when disturbance ceased the fluid was again withdrawn into the body. Professor Poulton said that he had witnessed this procedure in the larva of a species of Lina at Lake Louise, in the Canadian Rockies, in the autumn of 1897, and had found it to be precisely as described by the Russian naturalist. Portchinsky stated that a store of the same fluid is contained in the old larval skin after pupation and that, when the pupa is irritated, it “sits up” and brings pressure to bear on the skin which still envelops its posterior segments. This pressure causes the fluid to appear at the old apertures, to be presently withdrawn by the recovery in the shape of the skin when the pupa sits down again. Professor Poulton said that he owed the translation of this observation from the monograph of the distinguished Russian naturalist to the late Professor W. R. Morfill, of Oxford.

Dr. T. A. CHAPMAN remarked that the hairs covering the eggs of Porthetvia dispav are also urticating. He also observed that there are other species of moths which extrude the larval skin, but in these cases it was from flimsy cocoons. Mr. J. H. DURRANT also gave instances of this fact.

CALLIORATIS ”

exhibited the larvae, pupae and imagines of iipactolicw),’l sent by Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter. Two species belonging to the genus Callioratis had been recently recognised as Geometridae, and had carried off the genus into this family, leaving the true Hypsidae, pactolicus and its allies, a t present without a generic

TEE WARNINQ COLOURS OF TEE HYPSID MOTH PACTOLICUS, BUTL., I N ALL ITS STAQES.-PI’OfeSSOr POULTON

( lxxxiii )

name. The 2 black-and-white-ringed larvae and the 2 orange black-marked pupae has been collected on April 17, 1912, by Dr. Carpenter on the shore of Bugalla, Sesse Islands : the 32 imagines had been bred (June 1, 191 1) from scattered larvae found on Damba Island. There was much variation in the development of the black bars crossing the fore wing, which, in the darkest specimen, were far more completely fused into a single band on the right side than the left. Dr. Carpenter wrote concerning the specimens, April 18, 19 12 :-

'' I am sending you bottled specimens of the Hypsid moth ' pactolicus ' larvae and pupae. They are common on the shore, where their yellow papilionaceous food-plant grows very plentifully. They are splendid examples of conspicuousness : the larvae are visible from far. The white is the purest Chinese white 1 have ever seen on a live creature ! The pupae are freely exposed, hanging i n a few threads just enough to support them. It is dificult to imagine an insect more con- spicuous in all its stages. The moth has a very slow, heavy flight (like n " Cinnabar "), and if handled exudes a strong- smelling, rather bitter-tasting fluid from behind each side of ' the collar ' of the thorax. I thought you might like to have these; they are in dilute alcohol with a little glycerine. I will try and photograph some au nature1 next time the larvae appear in numbers.

Tho species pactolicus sent by Dr. Carpenter was closely allied to bellat~ix, Dalm., which Mr. G. A. I(. Marshall had seen caught and rejected by a young drongo (Trans. Ent. SOC., 1902, pp. 358-9). The specimen, which had lost most of its head, was now in the Hope Department.

said that he had received from Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter an account of curious changes of attitude observed in Acraeine pupae. The following statement formed part of the letter of April 18, 1912, already referred to :-

"Acraeine pupae (at least all that I have had) have a curious habit which I do not remember to have seen mentioned any- where. They bend their body from side to side a t more or less regular intervals of a day. Thus one day you see a pupa bent towards one side, and next day it is bent towards the

The brood of moths is just over."

DIURNAL MOVEMENT8 OF ACRAEINE PUPAE.-PrOf. POULTON

F P

( lxxxiv )

other, remaining motionless in these positions. Perhaps, as some Acraeine pupae at any rate are of aposematic colours, it is an advantage to show by change of position that they are animate objects, and drive home the warning, I have never seen any other pupa that hangs by the tail adopt changes of attitude,”

PSEUDACRARAS OF THE HOBLEYI GROUP ON THE SEWE ISLANDS

G. D. H. Carpenter had left Damba in December 1911, and after spending Christmas at Entebbe had gone in January to Bugalla Island in the Sesse Archipelago. The following extracts were printed from a letter written in February:- “1 am now quite settled, and am going to remain on Sesse.

The fly have become very much more numerous lately, and are quite as numerous as I want. The change from Damba is very welcome, the scenery here being quite different. The island is mostly open grass land, rising some 200-350 feet above the lake, with patches and belts of forest here and there, and a belt of forest all along the coast. I went into this last Sunday, January 28th, and to my great delight found there representatives of all the I’lanema-Pseu&wraea associations I So neither you nor I need regret that I have left Damba. Pa. obsoura seemed almost more abundant than on Damba, and its model [PLparagea] too (by the way, this seems to have more yellow on it than the Damba specimens); and on the very first time I went there I caught the most lovely specimen of a Pseudwaea intermediate between Ps. terra and Ps. obscuia -far better than anything I ever got on Damba. In what I now regard as my apprenticeship to the Pseudacraew I certainly was misled, a R you suggest, by the rudimentary vein closing the hind cell. But now I can, with a certain degree of confidence, distinguish them from their models on the wing and a t rest. Pseudacraeas are vwy much more alert, and rarely rest with the complete ‘abandon’ of the Planemas. Moreover, Ps. obscum and terra have a curious shiny appear- ance about them, especially on the under surface, as if they had been varnished; and, in the ‘ cadaver,’ I find very many points of difference. Pseudacraeas have much thicker bodies; the palpi are larger j the antennae have practically no club, only

IN TEE VICTORIA NYANZA.-PrOf. POULTON said that Dr.

( lxxxv )

a gradual thickening ; and the shape of the wings is slightly different .”

The following notes were written February 25th :- “ I think you mill be delighted that I have left Damba;

for the disproportion between Planema and I’seudawnea is even greater here, so much so that I look on Pseudacraeas as nothing, but consider i t an event to catch a Planema ! Of Pseudacraeas ; terra abounds, obscura is not quite so plentiful, hut lovely intermediates between the two are nearly as common as the types. Hobleyi is, I think, the scarcest-at any rate the female. I have only seen three PI. paragea (two of which I caught and send you), no PI. poggei or macaristcc, and very few tellus. I have seen no A. alciope at all, but Precis rauana occurs though I have not succeeded in catching it. On February 25th I mw two male Aobkyi pursuing a terra in a very suggestive manner, and a terra pursuing a female hobleyi which fluttered stationary in the air also very suggestively .”

[The following sentence was extracted from a later letter written from Sesse on May 1st : “ I have already told you that I have seen male Ps. hobleyi flirting with female 2‘s. terra, and vice versd-both hovering flutteringly in the air. Since then I have seen a male Z’s. obscura paying court to a female Ps. terra in the same way. This makes the observations com- plete! They were some 10-15 feet above the ground, and out of reach in every case. I am quite convinced that copula- tion and oviposition take place quite high up among the tree

“ S o far I have not succeeded in getting eggs, though I have kept four females full of ova : three have died without result, the fourth I have had for a week, and i t i s still living though i t has hardly any wings left ! ”

Dr. Carpenter had also written in confirmation on April 27th :-“ You will have seen from the first few I sent-which I hope to hear about in a week or so-how splendidly Sesse confirms the Damba records, the results being still more striking. I am so proud that I can supply such grand proof of the reality of the power of Natural Selection.”

Prof. POULTON said that the Bugalla specimens of PI.

tops.”]

( lxxxvi )

paragea, Grose-Smith, a male and a female, were of great interest because of the extended pale markings, resembling those of the most extreme varieties obtained by Mr. Wiggins in the neighbourhood of Entebbe. The five specimens from Damba Island, mentioned in these Proceedings (1912, p. xxiii), were on the contrary very dark forms. Mr. Wiggins’s darkest and lightest examples mere exhibited December 6, 191 1 (Proceed- ings, p. xci). An account of the Sesse Pseudacraeas would be given a t a later meeting when more material had arrived, but in the meantime it might be stated that the intermediate varieties between obscwra and terra were a large proportion of the whole, and that they formed the most complete transition from the one pattern to the other. Dr. Carpenter’s observa- tions on the courtship of the Pseudacraeas of the hobleyi group aff orded interesting confirmation of Dr. Jordan’s conclusions based on the structure of the male armature. Pseudacram kuenowi hypoxantha, Jord., was present in Dr. Carpenter’s captures on Bugalla, although absent from those on Damba. Prof. Poulton had now received the whole of the butterflies collected on this latter island, and explained that a few addi- tions would require to be made to the lists of Pseudacraeas and Planemas published in these Proceedings (1911, pp. xci-xcv; 1912, pp. xix-xxiii). He hoped to bring a complete statement before a later meeting.

. Papers.

The following papers were read :- “Studies in the Blattidae,” by R. SHELFORD, M.A., F.E.S. “Polyommcctwr alexius, Freyer, a good Species,” by T. A.

CHAPMAN, M.D., F.Z.S., F.E.S.

Wednesday, October I n d , 1912. Rev. F. D. MORICE, M.A., President, in the Chair.

Election of a Fellow. Miss LILY HUE, Hollywood, Colinton Road, Edinburgh, was

elected a Fellow of the Society.

( lxxxvii )

Death of Fellows.

The death was announced of the Hon. Fellow, Prof. L. GANGLBAUER, of Vienna, and also of Messrs. R. SIIELFOIID, M.A., F.Z.S., E. A . FITCH, F.L.S., and G. H. GROSVENOI~, M.A.

E.d’.rhibitions. AN ABERRATION N E W TO BRITAIN.-lk. NICHOLSON silowet1

three specimens of Atlalia obliternta, L., ab. sublineata, Weise, an aberration not as yet recorded from Britain. It differs from the type form in possessing black lines on the elytra, and is intermediate between the type, which is unspotted, and the ab. fenestrata, Weise, in which the elytra are almost entirely black.

PORRITT exhibited various forms of the variety ~ziposparsata, together with the type specimen of Tar. nigra of Abrazas grossulaviata, all bred, with some two dozen other more or less similar specimens, from larvae and pupae collected from one garden at Huddersfield during the present year.

COLEOPTERA FROM OxFoRn.-Commander J. J. WALKER ex- hibited series of the following rare species of British Coleoptera, recently taken in the Oxford district :-

Lathrobiuna pallidurn, Nord., found in flood-refuse of the River Cherwell at Water Eston, Oxon.

Apion annulips, Wenck., and 0 taken by sweeping road- side herbage (red clover, Z ’ ? - i f o l i ~ ~ ? j ~ prateme, predominating) near Enslow Bridge, Oxon.

Psylliodes luteoh, Mull., by sweeping grass on the outsliirts of Kirtlington Park, Oxon.

‘‘ INSECT-CATCHINQ GrzAss.”-commander WALKER also ex- hibited on behalf of Mr. A. M. LEA, Govt. Entomologist at Adelaide, S. Australia, a specimen of the so-called Insect- catching grass (CencJurus ccustyalis) from Cairns, N. Queensland, with several Coleoptera, belonging to various genera, adhering to the spinous awns.

brought for exhibition a beautiful aberration of P. cardui, closely resembling one figured by Newman (“ British Butter-

These specimens were taken on Box Hill. DARK ABERRATIONS OF ABRAXAS GROSSULARIATA.-Afr. G. T.

ABERRATION OF PYRAMEIS CARDUI.-BIZr. R. 11. PRIDEAUX

( lsxxviii )

flies,” p. 64), bred from a pupa found spun up on a thistle, July 16th, 1912, and which emerged the following day.

Mr. C. J. GAHAN exhibited a small series of PJwontnia supeyba, Melich, a dimorphic species of Homoptera of the sub- family Flatinae, taken hy Dr. A. C. Parsons in Northern Nigeria, and read the following letter received from Dr. Parsons to explain the great interest attaching to the specimens :-

(‘ Zlaldon Terrace, Dciwlish, S. Devon, “ 26th Azrgtcst, 1912.

“DEAR SIR,-lvith reference to my interview with you last June and our conversation at the Museum concerning certain Homoptera that I brought from N. Nigeria.

“ The following is an extract from a letter that I wrote to my wife on the subject.

“ ‘ . . . I sat down at once to describe to you an extra- ordinary instance of protective mimicry that came under my notice. You must know that this last trip I have been in the habit of collecting new flowers and then trying to paint them when I get into a camp. One afternoon I found that the particular flower which I wanted to qaint was dead, so I went into the “jungle ” to t ry and find another specimen. But my attention was soon arrested by a most beautiful dove-coloured pea flower of sorts. “ I will not bother about that other flower ” I oaid to myself ‘‘ but pick this one instead.” On suiting !,he action to the word all the blossoms of my ‘‘ flower ” flew up in a cloud of fluff about my head and then re- settled individually among the brushwood. To use one of your favourite expressions, my “ flower ” was composed of several very pretty moths “on tiptoe for a flight.” I can- not call to mind another instance of insects combining in that sort of way for mutual protection. These moths, whose folded wings are the exact shape of the keel rart of a pea flower,rwere all arranged onXthe bare stem of some darkish bush ; their heads were all pointing in the same direction and the colour graduated from green at

( lxxxix )

the top of the twig to a deep dove colour that would indicate the oldest blossoms below. I was never so com- pletely and so wonderfully taken in during my life, I well believe. J. was able to catch about fifteen of the insects which I am sending to the Nat. History Museum, and I hope they will be able to reproduce what I saw.’

“The insects were taken in a village called P A X D A , which lies about 40 miles north of KEFFI in the NASSARAWA province of Northern Nigeria. The place of capture was a patch of dense undergrowth at the edge of a jungle stream and close to the village ford. It was in the month of October that I saw the insects, and the time of day was about 5 p.m. The insects had selected II branch which was apparently leafless except at its extremity, and on this branch they occupied a length of some 9 inches : all the heads were pointing in one direction and that an upward one. I suppose that there were between 30 and 40 insects settled on the branch when I first saw it. After they had been disturbed they admitted of easy capture with a cap and all showed a tendency to re-assemble in the place where I first saw them, while none ventured far into the open.

I ‘ I have no recollection of seeing any flowers resembling in colour this pattern of insects, but racemes of leguminoua flowers are a common feature in N. Nigeria.

“ I could get no information on the subject from the natives. Finally, I should say that the insects have faded since

their capture. ‘ I Believe me,

I ‘ Yours truly, (Signed) ‘ I ALLAN C. PARSONS, W.A.M.S.,

‘‘ Med. Officer, N. Nigeria.”

Mr. Gahan said that Dr. Parsons’ observations on this species were a strong confirmation of the account given by Prof. J. W. Gregory of a nearly related East African species in his book “The Great Rift Valley.” H e passed round a copy of the plate on which that species had been represented, and re- marked that though it was undoubtedly inaccurate in showing

( xc )

the green insects at the top of the stem as being much smaller than the pink ones below, we now had no reason to doubt that these insects are a t times to be found arranged in the manner shown on the plate, notwithstanding that Mr. S. Hinde had never seen them so arranged during the time he had them under observation (see Trans. Ent. SOC., 1902, p. 695). Prof. Poulton’s suggestion that the insects are only arranged in the definite way described by Dr. Gregory, just at the period when they have reached the final stage, was in all probability correct, but it had yet to be proved correct; and in a matter so interesting it was greatly to be desired that someone on the spot would carry out further obserrations with a few to settling that point. Mr. Distant had described as a distinct species the pink form shown on Dr. Gregory’s plate; but knowing what we did of the close association of the two forms, he thought it was quite evident the two were merely forms of a single species, especially as no difference in structure had been pointed out.

WEST AFRICAN HoMoPTERA.-Mr. w. A. LAMBORN exhibited a series of twelve Hornoptera of the genus Flata, all taken feed- ing on one plant, 70 miles E. of Lagos, on Dec. 1, 1912. The insects were dimorphic, arid he stated that the pink and green forms were mixed as they rested on the plant. He had not observed in these the definite arrangement according to colour mentioned by Mr. Gahan, although he was acquainted with the same species.

Prof. POULTON observed that the insect probably had the instinct for congregating, though not of colour-arrangement, and that in the t w o known instances in which the green specimens were found above and the pink below they had probably come out in that order, and had not yet flown, and that when once disturbed they congregated again, but promiscuously.

EUCHELIA JACOBAEAE, L., CAPTURED AND THEN ABANDONED

BY A ROBIN.-Prof. POULTON exhibited an apparently un- injured example of E. jacobaeae given him by Mr. Roland Trimen, F.R.S., who had made the following observation on June 20, 1912. The moth was flying slowly at midday in his garden at Fawley, Onslow Crescent, Woking, when a robin

( xci )

captured i t on the wing and flew with it behind a bush. After about three minutes the bird flew away, and Mr. Trimen found the moth lying upon the ground. Although there was no obvious injury, except that one fore-wing was bent over and slightly rubbed, the insect seemed paralysed or almost dead. E.jcGcobaeae being, however, one of those moths that readily “feign death,” and Mr. Trimen being anxious to preserve the specimen just as it was left by the assailant, he placed i t without delay in a killing-bottle.

exhibited several unusual forms of some common “Blues ” taken this year in the Valley of the Isere and at Courmayeur (country of the Centrones).

(1) Polyommatua icarus, 8, from Courmayeur, in which the upperside makes a nearer approach to P . escheri than he had seen in the species. The colour of the blue, its variation of tint towards the margin, the encroachment of the black marginal line as in P. escheri, and the black lines along the veins were all marked.

(2) A specimen of Agriades thetis (bellargus), 5, from Cour- mltyeur, that had black spots round all four wings, being s

marked example of the var. pnctifwcc, an African form. (3) An example of Poly~mmatus hylas, 8, from Courmayeur,

that was very pale, the blue becoming white against the marginal line. (4) A specimen of Hivsutina damon, 8, t h a t was very

possibly really a hybrid with A. corydon; the underside had marginal spots and lunules, much in excess of the faint traces sometimes present in clam^?^; i t was taken at Bourg St. Maurice.

( 5 ) A specimen of Polyoinmntus escheri, & in which the ground-colour of the underside waa white, so that the white circles round the spots were lost in it. It might easily pass for a distinct species.

H e said that the ‘‘ blues ” of this region are generally large and more than usually variable ; and that it is also the head- quarters in Western Europe of Agriades alexius, Frr. SCARCE ANTs.-Mr. DONISTHORPE exhibited a number of

8 of P m r a comctata which he had swept at Box Hill, and

ABERRATIONS O F ALPINE LYCAENIDS.-Dr. T. A. CHAPMAN

( xcii )

remarked that no one living appeared to have taken 8 8 in Britain. There were none in the British Museum or Oxford Museum collection, but one or two in the Saunders and Chitty collections. Also 8 8 , 0 , and g of Formicoxenus miti- dulus, taken in a nest of F. rufa at Weybridge. Mr. Bagnall had recorded the 8 first for Britain in 1906 from Corbridge-on- Tyne. Subsequently Arnold and Hamm took the species in the S e w Forest in 1909. Adlerz discovered and described the & which is wingless, in 1884. There is a specimen, however, in the Rothney Collection a t Oxford, taken by Dr. Power in 1864, standing under the name of Stenamma westwoodi, !J. H e remarked that the food was not known, but that he had started a small colony in an observation nest, and found they would eat honey and devoured the larvae of Leptotkorax acer- vorum, which came from the same nest. Also 8 b, $? 0 , and p p of Leptothorax tubero-aflnis, a form new to Britain, taken in some numbers in the New Forest by Mr. Crawley and himself in July.

Mr. DONISTHORPE much regretted that his friend Mr. Crawley was not present to exhibit Anergates, but feared he was ill.

He then showed a 8, and winged and dealated 0 of Aner- gates atratulus, which had been found in the New Forest in July by Mr. Crawley and himself, the former having found the first specimens. He gave a short account of the habits of this interesting ant, which lives in the nests of Tetramdum caespitum.

TURNER exhibited, on behalf of the Rev. C. R. N. BURROWS, a long series of bred Celostrim avgiolus. He stated that the larvae had occurred each year for some time past in the garden a t Mucking, feeding on Portugal laurel, attacking the flower buds in the early summer. The whole of the specimens were unusually large, and the females had the black border on the fore-wings, in most of the specimens, very considerably developed and of a deep black. Many of the females had a strong development of whitey-blue on the basal half of the costal area, and there was a tendency to develop a whitish suffusion in bhe discal area of the forewing. I n one specimen this latter feature had developed into a bluish-white discal

CELASTRINA AROIOLUS ON A NEW FOOD-PLANT.-Mr. H Y . J.

( xciii )

blotch definitely terminated by the black border exteriorly, but vanishing into the general blue area interiorly. The form closely resembled the Nearctic form pseudarrJioZus. He believed that the food-plant had not hitherto been recorded.

hibited a curious colour-print of an '' Entomologist " pub- lished in 1830 in London, in which the whole of the figure was ingeniously made up of various species of the Insecta, only the face being human.

TEE GENUS DIaNTHoEcIA.-Mr. L. w. NEWMAN exhibited specimens of Dianthoecia, bred from North Kent wild larvae, resembling exactly, both in size and coloration, Dianthoecia capsophilu from the Isle of Man. This appeared to confirm the opinion of several leading men that B . calisophiln and D. carpophuga are the same species. He also showed for com- parison varied series of U . carpophaga ; a pair of D. capsophila and D . capsincola.

COLIAS MECLA FROM FINMAHK.--M~. W. G. SHELDON ex- hibited a series of C. Iiecla, from the Porsanger Fjord, Arctic Norway, with specimens of the other orange species occurring in Europe for comparison.

A LIVING EaRwIG.-Mr. w. J. LUCAS exhibited a living ,3 of Labidura riparia (the Giant Earwig), taken on the shore near Christchurcli, Hants. They appeared to be getting scarce. He had visited the locality three times in August, and in all found a dozen specimens-& ) and nymphs. The one exhibited was taken on August 31, and had been fed on raw meat. As these earwigs change colour very much after death he also exhibited a drawing giving the colour of the living insects, and demonstrating how well they are protected by resemblance to the pale sand of the Hampshire coast.

specimens of Hepialus pyre~iaicus, a gpecies found not un- commonly on the higher parts of Mount Canigou, with the apterous female. Also n fine form of Lycmm arion, and n specimen of Heorles JLippothoe that was at once radiated, obsolescent and asymmetrical.

A CURIOUS ENTOMOLOGICAL PICTURE.-M~. TURNER also ex-

PYRENEAN LEPIDOPTERA.-Mr. G. T. BETHUNE-BAKER showed

ALPINE BWTERFLIEs.--Mr. DOUQLAfl PEAFtflON exhibited a

( xciv )

drawer of Rhopalocera from the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps, including an albinistic specimen of Evebia lappna, an unusually large 9 of Melitaea varia, the large Black Forest form of Colias paheno, Byenthis pales from Pontresina with underside hind-wings of a deep purple-red, and others.

EGQ-LAYING OF EREBIA GLacIaLrs.-Mr. J. A. SIMES read the following note :-“On the 15th July, 1912, I came across Erebia glacialis in some numbers on a scree slope below the summit of the Colette de Gily, Dauphiny, and sat down for a while to watch them. Shortly afterwards I saw a 0 alight on a piece of loose rock on the slope, sun itself for a time and then proceed to walk slowly backwards until i t reached the lower end of the rock. It then bent its abdomen underneath the slab of rock and deposited an egg on the lower surface of it. The slab measured roughly 9 inches by 4 inches and the broken part at the lower end was only about half an inch thick, although the bulk of the slab was considerably thicker. The only vegetation in the neighbourhood was a very fine- leaved grass, tufts of which grew here and there on the screes. The nearest plant was about a foot and a half distant from the slab on which the egg was deposited. I subsequently observed a second female behave in precisely the same manner, and eventually deposit an egg on t4he underside of a detached slab of rock on the scree slope.”

Mr. H. ROWLAND-BROWN observed that if the larva were not hatched till the spring the egg might be placed in this way for protection, but as the larva had been known to batch quickly and hibernate in that state this could not be the cause.

Mi.. DOUGLAS PEARSON suggested that possibly the fact that they had to hatch quickly was the reason for their position, as the heat obtained from the sun beating on the slab might hasten them.

Dr. CHAPMAN was of opinion that this was quite possible, but thought it also possible that the species, unlike most of the genus, might hibernate as an egg, since they had only been known to hibernate as larvae in captivity, and so under unnatural conditions.

DELAYED EMERQENOE OF A BEE-IMAGO (OSMIA SP.) - The

( xcv )

PRESIDENT exhibited a species of Osnaia and its cell, and read the following note :-I‘ Three and a half years ago, in the early spring of 1909, I picked up beside a little stream at Jericho, and afterwards brought to one of these meetings for exhibi- tion, a hollow stem of Zizyphus spina-Ch?%?ti, containing a series of mud-cells which I conjectured to be the work of some rather large Osniia sp., possibly tridentata. I opened one and found in i t a fat white larva, so I put the stem into a muslin bag, hung i t up on a nail, and hoped that imagines would emerge in the coming summer. Nothing however occurred either in 1909, 1910, or 1911 ; and I took i t for granted that the grubs had all perished. However to my surprise and pleasure I found on returning from the Oxford Congress this year, that one of the cells had produced an Osmiu 0 of a species which 1 had never seen before, but which, I think, must be the Osntia indiyotea of Morawitz. I have brought the cell and the insect with me; but you will hardly be able to see by this light the pretty iridescent or sub-metallic color- ation of its abdomen. It is known that Osmiu spp. will sometimes wait through a year or more before emergence. F. Smith once received some Osnzia cells from Scotland which produced nothing for some time ; but ultimately bees appeared, after a year or so in the British Museum. This Osniia, how- ever, has been extraordinarily patient ; and I do not despair of finding something more in the bag next year.”

Mr. c). 0. W n r r E R H o u s E observed that in cases of delayed emergence in bees, it was in the larval, not in the pupal state that they passed the interval, and that the larva was capable of existing tlius for years without food.

exhibited a very dark example of Bwntliis selene, having the under-wings clouded with dark brown all over, except for a slightly lighter shaded spot in the middle, and the upper- wings very heavily clouded with dark brown ; it was taken in Worth Forest, Siissex, May 26, 1912. He also showed a specimen of Epinephele junira, one upper-wing having a white blotch at the tip, the under-wing on the same side also having a white streak, taken a t Box Hill, August 11, 1912.

ABERRATION OF BHENTHIS SELENE.-?&. H. BAKER SLY

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Papers. The following papers were read :- ‘I The Life History of Lonchaeu chorea,” by A. E. CAMERON,

“ A few Observations on Mimicry,” by W. J. KAYE, F.E.S. M.A., B.Sc. ; communicated by H. S. LEIQH, F.E.S.

Wednesday, October leth, 1912.

The Rev. F. D. MORICE, M.A., President, in the chair. Portraits of Ex-Presidents.

The PRESIDENT stated that in pursuance of a suggestion approved by the Council, he had written to most of the sur- viving ex-Presidents of the Society for their portraits, and had already received several, viz. those of Lord AVEBURY, Dr. DAVID SHARP, Dr. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, Mr. ROLAND TRIMEN, and Mr. C. 0. WATERHOUSE. Photographs of the PRESIDENT and of the late Mr. G. H. VERRALL had also been received, and Mr. J. H. DURRANT ha.d kindly presented portraits of Messrs. W. KIRBY, W. SPENCE and H. T. STAINTON, Presidents of an earlier day.

Thanks were voted to the donors.

ElectimL of Fellows.

The followipg were elected Fellows of the Society :- Mrs. ELLEN M. +ATERFIELD, The Hospital, Port Sudan ; Messrs. PATRICK ALFRED BUXTON, M.B.O.U., Fairhill, Tonbridge, and Trinity College, Cambridge ; ALFRED NOAKES, The Hill, Witley, Surrey ; NORNAN DENBIQH RILEY, 94, Drakefield-road, Upper Tooting, S.W., and British Museum (Natural History), S. Kensington, S.W. ; and HENRY S. WALLACE, 17, Kingsley- place, Heaton-on-Tyne.

Exlbibitions. EUROPEAN BumERFLIEs.-Mr. E. B. ASHBY exhibited a case

of Rhopalocera from the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps and from Britain, including a specimen of Gonepteqjx cleopaha, bred in captivity from an egg laid in England.