40 



adulfc stage, the majority with little doubt in the egg stage. The 

 wood cricket almost certainly hibernates sometimes as a nymph, 

 sometimes as an adult. Of our wild cockroaches little is known as 

 to their winter habits, probably they hibernate either in the egg or 

 in the adult stage. Our British earwigs probably all hibernate as 

 adults, though possibly of some of them it is only the ? $ that do 

 so. Of the Neuroptera again I know of none that hibernate as 

 the adult." 



Of the more highly developed orders one can find numerous 

 examples of species that hibernate in either of the principal stages, 

 though the Hymenoptera and Coleoptera appear to shew a marked 

 disinclination to hibernating as pupa?, many species delaying the 

 pupal ecdysis until the spring, while of others the adult stage is 

 reached in the autumn though the insect does not emerge from its 

 pupal retreat until the advent of spring. 



I have endeavoured m these somewhat random notes to put 

 before you a few of the many interesting points in insect biology 

 that confront us when we consider the effects upon insect life of the 

 annual periods of rigour and stress due to the winters of our own 

 country, but I have not attempted to follow the gradual adaptations 

 evolved to meet the increasing severity of winter as we pass from 

 subtropical conditions to the yet more rigorous winters of the arctic 

 regions ; neither have I referred to acclimatisation experiments, 

 attempts either to establish in our latitudes species belonging to 

 countries which enjoy milder and brighter winters than our own, or 

 to establish in such countries certain of our species that are 

 accustomed to winters of greater seventy. 



In conclusion I should like to thank you for the patience 

 with which you have received this somewhat prolonged and ram- 

 bling dissertation. I wish also to express my appreciation for the 

 honour you have done me in again electing me as your President. 

 And in doing so I wish very heartily to thank the Officers and 

 Council of the Society for their continuous kindness and encourage- 

 ment in the performance of my duties during the past year. 

 With such able and experienced lieutenants to advise in time of 

 doubt or difficulty, the position of President becomes that most 

 delightful one of receiving all the /nnlos while somebody else does 

 the work. 



* Mr. Lucas reports Hemerohius stigma in January, but whether the species 

 hibernates is not certain. H. nitidulus emerges very little later. 



