178 [J"iy> 



thorpe, a verj remarkable nielanic form of HaJyzia \8-ijnf/afa, L., black with 

 white sj3ots, the type, which was also exhibited, being light brown with white 

 spots. The former was taken at Oxshott on the 22nd May. He also exhibited 

 Stilic us frag ills, Gr., a melanic form with a black thorax instead of red as in the 

 type, taken at Shirley on May 15th ; and iStaphylinus fulvipes, Scop., taken by 

 himself at Bamber Forest on June 1st, a new locality for this mre beetle. Dr. 

 T. A. Chapman, two full-grown larvae of Thestor ballus, sent by Mr. H. Powell, 

 from Hyeres, and described them in their various stages. He also exhibited a 

 larva of lleterogyna paradoxa, full fed, reared from the egg at Reigate, and 

 a cocoon of Orgyia auro-limbata, with parasitic Ichneumonid. In this instance a 

 larva produced an imago and the parasite. The cocoon when opened last October 

 showed the cocoon of an Ichneumon within it ; a dense oval ribbed cocoon of 

 whitish silk, with longitudinal darker flutings. The Ichneumon and the moth 

 both came from the same larva, and the moth, though containing few eggs and 

 (not being fertilised) laying none, was nevertheless energetic enough to denude her- 

 self of all her clothing. An imago and a parasite from the same larva have not 

 infrequently been recorded, but the occurrence has been frequently doubted. The 

 President, the dry form of Frecis actia bred by Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall from an 

 egg laid by a female of the wet form. The parent was captured by Mr. Marshall 

 at Salisbury, Maslionaland (5000 ft.), on February 14th, 1903 : the egg was laid on 

 the following day. It hatched February 20th, the larva pupated March 16th, the 

 perfect insect, a male, emerged March 28th. The differences between these two 

 forms are as astonishing as those between the two phases of Precis antUope bred, 

 the dry from the wet, by Mr. Marshall. The representation of a dead leaf in the 

 dry actia is slightly more elaborate than in antilope. Both species have an equally 

 beautiful midrib-like stripe, but the former alone presents the appearance of minute 

 holes near the tip of the simulated leaf — due to two white semitransparent spots. 

 This is the third South African species of the genus Precis in wliich Mr. 

 Marshall has produced incontrovertible evidence of the specific identity of forms 

 widely separated in colours, pattei*ns, shape, relation of upper- to under-side, &c., 

 and even instinct, including the selection of a particular type of country. The 

 President also showed a small series of ants, part of a much larger collection 

 made by the late W. J. Burchell in Brazil between the years 1825 and 1830. 

 They were obtained with his other vast zoological and botanical collections 

 at Rio or its neighbourhood, or in the course of the long journey from Santos to 

 Para. Considering their great age the specimens were wonderfully well preserved 

 and accompanied by remarkably exact and detailed data, and, in many cases, 

 interesting notes on habits, instincts, &c. 



Mr. 0. E. Janson communicated a paper " On the genus Tkeodusia, and other 

 Eastern Goliathides, with descriptions of some new species." Colonel C. Swinhoe 

 communicated a paper on " New genera and species of the family LymantriidcB in 

 the National Collection." Mr. Gr. W. Kirkaldy communicated a " Memoir on the 

 Rhynchota collected by Dr. Arthur Willey chiefly in Berara and Lifu." Professor 

 E. B. Poulton gave an account of " Experiments in 1893, 1894, and 1896 on the 

 colour relation between certain Lcpidopterous larvae and their auiToundings, and 

 especially the effect of liclien-covered bark upon Odontoptera bidentata, and 

 Lasiocampa quercifolia." — H. Rowland-Brown, Jloti. 6'ee. 



