1899.] 19 



bable that the growth is extraordinarily slow, and consequently that the larva can 

 maintain life for very long periods in most unfavourable conditions. Mr. Blandford 

 called attention to similar cases which he had brought before the Society ; it appeared 

 likely to him, from what was known about such insects as Callidium variahile, 

 which was occasionally bred from dry wood at long intervals, that these species were 

 not abnormally slow-growing under normal conditions, but became so in dry timber, 

 in which they probably sustained life with difficulty, especially when the outside of 

 the wood was varnished. Mr. Waterhouse, for Mr. Gr.W. Kirkaldy, living examples 

 in various stages of a Caryohorus in nuts of Attalea funifera from Brazil; Elditt 

 had described the attacks of an allied species upon the seeds of Cassia fistula. Mr. 

 Tutt, for Dr. Chapman, a series of Swiss examples of Zygcena exulans, and discussed 

 the differences between them and the Scotch form. Papers were communicated by 

 Mr. W. F. H. Blandford " On some Oriental ScolytidcB of Economic importance 

 with Descriptions of five New Species," and by Mr. van der Wulp (through Colonel 

 Yerbury) on "Jsilida from Aden and its neighbourhood." 



November 16th, 1898.— Mi\ R. Trimen, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



Dr. A. L. Bennett, Mission Protestante, Libreville, French Congo ; Mr. J. Gr. 

 McH. Gordon and Mr. R. S. Gr. McH. Gordon, of Coi-semalzie, Whauphill, Wigton- 

 shire ; Mr. J. A. Kershaw, of Morton Banks, Lewisham Road, Windsor, Melbourne, 

 Victoria ; Mr. A. G. Lethbridge, of Glynde Place, Lewes ; Mr. W. J. Lucas, B.A., 

 of Minerva Road, Kingston-on-Thames ; Mr. R. H. Relton, c/o Perkins and Co., 

 Ltd., Brisbane, Queensland, and Dr. A. J. Turner, of Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, 

 Queensland ; were elected Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. Tutt showed, for Mr. Herbert Williams, a series of specimens of Pararge 

 Egeria bred from eggs laid in July. A portion of the brood were forced, and the 

 imagos, which emerged in November and December of the same year, showed 

 marked darkening of the hind-margin of the under-side of the hind-wings, and 

 were of a greyer colour than those which appeared at the normal time. He also 

 exhibited a batch of fifty specimens of Amphidasys hetularia bred from ova de- 

 posited by a female captured in Essex. The progeny ranged from a colour rather 

 lighter than the normal form to a blackish tint almost equal to that of var. Double- 

 dayaria ; all intergrades were represented without sign of discontinuity. Mr. H. 

 J. Elwes gave an account of a journey undertaken by him in June and July of the 

 present year to the Russian portion of the Altai mountains, partly for sport and 

 partly to investigate the distribution of insects in that region, and the line 

 of demarcation between the Eastern and Western PaFsearctic subregions. He 

 exhibited examples of l^l species of butterflies taken by himself. Of these many 

 had not been previously recorded from the region, of which the total number of 

 species now stood at 184- ; his list showed that the Lepidopterous fauna had a more 

 European and Siberian character than had been previously supposed, or than 

 Seebohm had found to exist in the avifauna. The number of undescribed species 

 taken was small, but several forms were previously known only from remote localities, 

 such as Melit/xa Iduna, hitherto recorded from the fells of Lapland. Few Hetero- 

 cera were taken, but among them was the third recorded example oi Arctia thulea, 

 Dalm. Dr. A. G. Butler communicated a paper, " On some new species of African 

 Pierina in the collection of the British Museum, with notes on seasonal forms of 

 Belenois." — W. F. H. Blandfoed and F. Mereifield, Hon. Sees. 



