18-1.] 175 



Dr. D. Sharp esliibitod a number of eggs of Dytiscus marijlnaJis laid on the 

 sheath of a species of reed, and commented on tlie manner of tlieir oviposition, 

 wliich he said had been fully described by Dr. Ri'gimbart. 



The Rev. A. E. Eaton exhibited a collection of Vsychodldm from Somersetshire, 

 including six species of Psychoda, eleven species of Fericoma, and one species of 

 TJlomyia. Mr. McLachlan commented on the interesting nature of the exhibition. 



Mr. P. Crowley exhibited a specimen of Prothoe Caledonia, a very handsome 

 butterfly from Perak ; and a specimen of another equally handsome species of the 

 same genus from Tonghou, Burmah, which was said to be undescribed. 



The Secretary read a letter from Mr. Merrifield, pointing out that the statement 

 made by Mr. Fenn, at the meeting of the Society on the Ist April last, of his views 

 on the effects of temperature in causing variation in Lepidoptera, was incorrect ; he 

 (Mr. Merrifield) had never suggested what might happen to Tceniocamjm instalilis, 

 and had expressly stated that he had found a reduction of the temperature below 

 57° to produce no effect, whereas in Mr. Fenn's experiments the temperature must 

 have been below 40°. 



The Secretary also read a letter which Lord Walsingham had received from Sir 

 Arthur Blackwood, the Secretary of the Post Office, in answer to the memorial 

 which, on behalf of the Society, had been submitted to the Postmaster General, 

 asking that small parcels containing scientific specimens might be sent to places 

 abroad at the reduced rates of postage applicable to packets of bond fide trade 

 patterns and samples. The letter intimated that, so far as the English Post Office 

 was concerned, scientific specimens sent by sample post to places abroad would not 

 be stopped in future. —IT. Goss, Hon. !Secretary. 



ON OVIPOSITiON, AND THE OVIPOSITOR, IN CERTAIN 

 LEPIDOPTERA. 



BY JOHN 11. WOOD, M.B. 



AVlieii I coiniiiuiiicated the discovery made by Dr. Chapman and 

 myself of the mode of egg-laying in Micropteryx (vol. i, scr. 2, p. 148), 

 I had no idea how large the subject would prove, and that it would 

 practically open up the whole question of ovipositing in Lepidopterous 

 insects. We soon found, as had been suspected, that other genera in 

 the Tineina hcaides 3Iicropferi/x and Inctirvaria were able to penetrate 

 plant-structures and deposit their eggs within ; some selecting one 

 part of the plant, and some another, whilst the instrument was modi- 

 fied to suit the kind of work it had to do. We next came upon a 

 class of ovipositor very similar in outward appearance to the foregoing, 

 and like them, rigid, yet highly clastic, and capable of being freely 

 protruded. In form it was flat, broad, thin, and pointed, but in spite 

 of its very lancet-like shape, it was incapable of cutting, and had 

 evidently been designed to enable the insect to place its egg within 

 an unopened floret ; its form and rigidity being admirably adapted 



