68 



A few flowers were still in evidence, among them Purple Loose- 

 strife {Lythrum salicaria), Sneezewort {Achillea ptarmica), Heather 

 {Calluna vulgaris), and Devil's-bit Scabious {Scabiosa succisa). The 

 early fungi noted were Amanita virosa, Amanitopsis fulva, Psaliota 

 campestris, Russula citrina, Psathyra data, and Scleroderma 

 verrucosinu. 



Tea, to which thirteen sat down, was served at Boilings in the 

 old village. 



SEPTEMBER Uth, 1919. 



Mr. F. W. Thorrington gave a lecture on " Variation in the 

 British Ferns," and exhibited a large number of aberrant fronds. 

 (See p. 13.) 



Mr. W. J. Lucas exhibited drawings of the very local orchid, the 

 Summer Ladies-tresses, and read the following note : — 



" Spirant/ies astivaUs, Eich., from the New Forest. There seems 

 to be some 40 plants in the two localities I know (possibly there is 

 one other). If the species has disappeared from Wyre Forest, and 

 the numbers are decreasing in the New Forest (as appears to be the 

 case), it seems clear that this orchid is on the highway to extinction 

 as a British plant." 



Mr. Hy. J. Turner exhibited a fine female specimen of the clear 

 lemon-coloured aberration of Colias edusa known as ab. helicina, 

 from Cyprus ; also three bred specimens of the local and rare 

 Noctuid Glottula (Brithi/s) encaustm, from Catania, in Sicily. His 

 correspondent had written him as to finding a black larva covered 

 with large white spots, feeding on a plant only growing in the sea- 

 side marshes a short distance north of Catania. From Spuler's book 

 (" Schm. Eur.," vol. i., p. 166, and supp. pi. 3, fig. 3), the larva was 

 suspected to be that of Glnttitla pancratii, a species attached to the 

 liliaceous plant. Pancratium maritimum , which grows only on the 

 shores of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and down the E. African 

 coast. In due course the larvae pupated, and his correspondent 

 forwarded the ten resulting pupse. Their emergence was not ex- 

 pected until April or May of 1920, but strange to say on July 18th 

 a specimen emerged not of the expected G. pancratii, but of the 

 very rare G. encaustus. Two others emerged on the 21st and 24th 

 respectively, both of the same species. Whether G. encaustus be 

 only a constant local form of G. pancratii remains to be proved. It 

 has only been taken in Sicily, Corsica, and the Italian Riviera. The 



