1901.] 203 



lateritia, Hiifn., a species not liitherto recorded in the British Islands, taken in 8oiith 

 Wales by Mr. W. E. R. Allen, also Deinpcia 'pidcheUn from the same district; 

 Dianthecia lutcago, \ar. Barrettii, from one of the islands off the Glamorganshire 

 coast ; and varieties of PJHpithecia virgaureaia, much blackened, E. lariciata, E. 

 satyrati,, and E. cxiguata, taken in the county of Grlamorgan by Mr. Vivian. Mr. M. 

 Jacoby, specimens of lleliucopris gigas, L., from Mashonaland, and SilpJia biguttata, 

 Fairm., from Patagonia. Sir George Hampson, two females of an apterous Lasio- 

 campid from the Transvaal, with cocoon and ova bred by Col. J. M. Fawcett, 5th 

 Lancers; the larvae is very much like that of the British Lasiocampa ruhi ; the 

 female does not emerge from the cocoon, its antennae being aborted and all the 

 ■joints coalesced with a flabcllate organ with slight strife indicating the joints, the 

 fore tibioD short with traces of tibial claws ; the male is unknown, and as Colonel 

 Fawcett was on active service at the time of emergence he was unable to expose the 

 female for the purpose of attracting the male. Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe, specimens 

 of Ripersia Tnmlini, Nowst., a Coccid new to Britain, taken with Lasius niger at Port- 

 land in April, 1900 ; the species was first discovered in Guernsey. Mr. C. P. Pickett, 

 aberrations and varieties of Li/crowo hellargus, L. Corydon, and L. Astrarchc, taken 

 by him in August, 1900, at Folkestone and Dover. Mr. H. Goss, a gynandromor- 

 phous specimen of Lycmna hellargus which he had taken at Reigate in June, 1900 ; 

 it had the characters of a male in the right wings, and the characters of a female in 

 the left wings, which were, however, not entirely free from the blue scales of the 

 male. Dr. Chapman, a cocoon of Anlheraio, viylitta and a flint fi'om Redhill, two 

 objects with practically nothing in common ; whilst dissenting in toto from those 

 who see nothing in many cases of mimicry but accidental resemblance, he pre- 

 sented them with this as a case undoubtedly in accordance with their views, the 

 cocoon and the flint being remarkably alike. Professor Poulton, an apparatus in- 

 vented by him to determine the strength of the formic acid shot out by the ant in 

 defence of its nest. Mr. Donistliorpe, he said, had noticed that a shower of formic 

 acid had sometimes a great effect, and he thought it would be interesting to determine 

 the quantity of anhydrous acid ; in the case of Dicranura vinula the fluid, which 

 contains 45 per cent, of acid, was painful in the eye, but did not damage the skin or 

 body ; he considered that the acid was only virulent during the time that the larvae 

 and pupae were in the nest, and that it was used purely for defensive purposes. 

 Mr. F. Enock, numerous specimens, illustrative of the metamorphoses of dragon-flies. 

 Mr. F. Enock read a paper, entitled, " The Metamorphoses of Jischna cyariea, 

 illustrated by the electric lantern with photographs from life." Sir Geo. Hampson, 

 Bart., a paper on " The Classification of a New Family of the Lepidoptera." Mr. 

 Martin Jacoby, a paper, entitled, " A further contribution to the knowledge of 

 African Phytophagous Coleoptem." Mr. Gilbert J. Arrow, a paper, entitled, " The 

 Carabid genus Plieropsophus : Notes and Descriptions of New Species." 



June btk, 1901. — The President in the Chair. 



Mr. G. C. Champion exhibited a male specimen of Odontceus inohilicornis, one 

 of the rarest of British beetles, captured at Woking on May 28th. Mr. Donis- 

 thorpe said that the same species had also been taken this year at Bournemouth by 

 Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. Mr. R. McLachlan, four specimens of a curious bug of the 

 genus Henicocephalus received from Mr. G. V. Hudson, of Wellington, New Zealand; 



