32 . I MOMOLOGICAI. XKWS. [Feb. 



men of I\L-cilocln-iiia /.f.v/.v//, ;i Pentatomid bug from Japan, which, 

 uhen dampened \\ith water, turned instantly from a dull green to a nn- 

 tallic copper color. Mr. |. II. Leech exhibited a large number of /.,/>/</- 

 optcra from Mr. Pratt, of Ichang, China, which contained !i fly-six new 

 liulU-rllics and forty new moths. Mr. Klwes observed only two genera in 

 this collection not known to be found at Sikkim. He called attention lo 

 the similarity of the species from India, China and Java. Mr. Md.adilan 

 remarked on ha\ ing lately receh <<! a drag< mllv fr> iin Simla previously only 

 recorded from Pekin; and Mr. Distant stated thai he had latelv re( eiv d .1 

 species of Cicada hum. Hong Kong hitherto supposed to be confined to 

 Java. Mr. \V. II. 15. Fletcher exhibited a preserved specimen and draw- 

 ings of a variety of the larva of Sphin.v /igiistri. Mr. V. I), (iodman 

 read a letter from Mr. Herbert Smith, containing an account of the //i - 

 menoptera, Diptera, Honip/cni and Colcoplcra recently collected in St. 

 Vincent, where he was employed under the direction of a committee ol 

 the Royal Society appointed to investigate the natural history of the \\Vst 

 Indies [it is understood that a work on the lines of the superb " P.iologia 

 Centrali-Americana" will in time be the product of this survey.] 



Mr. Khves read a letter from Mr. I )oherly descriptive of collecting at 

 light and sugar in the Naga Hills. Mr. Doherty expressed the opinion 

 that light used in out-of-the-way places repels rather than attracts; the 

 same applied to sugar, as insects required to be accustomed to these de- 

 coys, Col. Swinhoe said the attractive power of light depended on its in- 

 tensity and height above the ground. I le had collected over three hundred 

 specimens of Spiritigidcf at electric light in Hombay in one night. Mr. J. 

 |. Walker had found electric lights very attractive in Panama. Mr. F. 

 Merrifield read a paper entitled, " Systematic Temperature Experiments 

 on some Lepidoptera in all their stages," and exhibited a number of speci- 

 mens in illustration. Darkness of color and markings in l : .ninnnos au- 

 tnninaria resulted from the subjection of the pupa.- to a very low tempera- 

 ture. The same had occurred in Sclcnia illuslrai'ia, where the markings 

 had also been altered in a very striking manner. Lord \Valsingham ob- 

 served that exposure to cold in the pupa state appeared to prodm < a 

 darker coloring in the imago, and that forcing in that stage hail an 

 opposite effect; that insects subjected to glacial conditions probably de- 

 rived some advantage from the development of dark or suffused coloim-, 

 and that this advantage was, in all probability, the more rapid absoiption 

 of heal, lie believed an hereditary tendency in this direction u.i-^ e-,tab- 

 lished under glacial < onditioiis, and that lliis would account for the preva- 

 lence of melanic forms in northern latitudes and at high elevations. 



11. ( ",< >ss and \V. \V. FI IWI.I-.K. Si . 's. 



I NTOMOLOGH \i Ni- us fur Januai \ \v:is tn.uU il I. in. i 



