138 DTJBUN NATUJEIA-L HISTORY SOCIETY. 



According to M. Godard, Notodonta bicolora is not rare about Valen- 

 ciennes. Ernest ( * * Papillon's D'Eiirope," voL iv., p. 60, Fhalana hicolor, 

 Plate cxxvi., Fig. 70) tells us that in his day this moth was discovered 

 for the first time in 1769, in the Forest of Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Al- 

 though it appears generally every year, yet it is only seen in small 

 quantities ; and in 1783, two years before the publication of his fourth 

 volume, he could only get a caterpillar, which he has figured against a 

 birch-leaf. 



In confirmation of the truth of Bouchard's statement, that it falls 

 very readily from the branch on which it rests, he adds : — ''EUe se trouve 

 sur les Boiileaux {Betida alia) d'ou on la fait tomber tres ais^ment pour 

 peu qu'on eu secou les branches." 



On this tree the moth deposits her eggs, which are hatched about the 

 end of June or beginning of July, and it feeds on the birch. The cater- 

 pillar is a deep green, with tufts of hair proceeding from a white tubercle, 

 which on the under side of the belly is slightly yellowish. Capieux, 

 in the twelfth volume of " IsTaturforcher," published in Halle, 1778, 

 figures the moth. 



Dr.Beaumann, in Steinbach, caught a female moth, which laid eggs. 

 The caterpillars were long-haired. He, not knowing their natural food, 

 tried salad, but they refused to eat, and died. M. Bouchard proceeds 

 next year to Ireland to look for the larva. Irish naturalists will wel- 

 come this noble addition to the zoology of their very rich island. It is 

 but another proof that he who would seek for novelty in large objects 

 has only to go to unvisited places in the proper season. It is a great 

 pity that there are not premiums, in books, awarded for discoveries in 

 zoology, as there used to be for new plants. Many among living zoolo- 

 gists amply deserve such rewards; whilst collectors like Bouchard, Fox- 

 croft, and Turner, who live by their labours in the field, might receive 

 in lieu of it pecuniary reward. 



Mr. BirchaU exhibited Continental specimens of the moth in question, 

 and stated that it would be most desirable to have the occurrence of this 

 species confirmed. 



He had taken this opportunity to bring in and exhibit to the Meet- 

 ing specimens of a moth which was lost to British lists formearly twenty 

 years, with the exception of a specimen, taken in the county of Dublin, 

 by a member of this Society, James Haughton, Esq., and which had been 

 exhibited here. He had, however, found Hyd/relia Banksiana tolerably 

 common this year in Killamey. 



The following were declared duly elected : — 

 Ordinary Member : — John Goode, Esq., Dublin. 

 Honorary Member : — John Cocks, M. D., Plymouth. 

 Corresponding Member : — Henry Lawson, Esq., Cork. 

 Associate Member : — A. F. Gordon, Esq. 



The Society adjourned to the 7th January, 1859. 



