188 THE entomologist's record. 



as belonging to that species, Mr. Kirby said the species was a very 

 variable one, and that several forms had been described from Labrador 

 and Greenland. Mr. South stated that he had examined Dr. Walker's 

 specimens, and he believed that most of the forms exhibited had been 

 described by Dr. Staudinger in his papers on the Entomology of 

 Iceland. Dr. Sharp exhibited a specimen of Orfiiihomyia avicularia, 

 L., taken near Dartford, to which there were firmly adhering — apparently 

 by their mandibles — several specimens of a mallophagous insect. He 

 also exhibited some specimens of fragile Diptera, Neuroptera, and 

 Lepidoptera, to show that the terminal segments in both sexes might be 

 dissected off and mounted separately without the structures suffering 

 from shrivelling or distortion. Dr. Sharp also said, in reference to the 

 statement made by him, on p. 421 of his paper recently published in 

 the ' Transactions ' of the Society, as to the number of the segments of 

 the abdomen, and the position of the genital orifice in the female of 

 Hemiptera-Heteroptera, that he had recently been making some dis- 

 sections, and found that the structures externally were difficult of 

 comprehension, and he now thought that the statement he had made 

 from observation, without dissection, might prove to be erroneous. 

 Mr. G. F. Hampson exhibited and remarked on a series of Erebia melas, 

 taken in July last, in the Austrian Alps (Dolomites), by Mrs. NichoUs. 

 Captain Elwes observed that this species was abundant in the Pyrenees ; 

 but although he had frequently suggested to Dr. Staudinger and other 

 European lepidopterists that it probably occurred in the Swiss or Austrian 

 Alps, he had never been able to obtain specimens from any part of 

 Europe except the Pyrenees ; and that it had been left to an English 

 lady to be the first to take a species of Erebia new to these Alps. He 

 added that the species only frequented very steep and stony slopes on 

 the mountains, so that its capture was attended with difificulty. Mr. 

 McLachlan exhibited specimens of an extraordinary Neuropterous larva 

 found by Mr. B. G. Nevinson in tombs at Cairo. He said that this 

 larva had been assigned to the genus Nenioptera by Schaum, who 

 described it as having been found in tombs in Egypt (Berl. Ent. 

 Zeitbchrift, vol. i.); and Roux had previously (Ann. Sci. Nat. t. xxviii) 

 described and figured it as an abnormal apterous hexapod under the 

 name of Necrophilus arenarius. Mr. Nevinson supplemented these 

 remarks with an account of his capture of the specimens in the Egyptian 

 tombs. Mr. G. T. Baker exhibited a series of forms of species of the 

 genus Boarmia from Madeira ; and also a series of melanic varieties of 

 Gracilaria syringella from the neighbourhood of Birmingham. Mr. W. 

 F. H. Blandford exhibited and remarked on a series of specimens of 

 Dermestes vulpinus, which had been doing much damage to the roofs of 

 certain soap-works in the neighbourhood of London, where it had no 

 doubt been introduced with bones and fat. Mr. R. W. Lloyd exhibited 

 a specimen of Carabiis catenidatus, in which the femur of the right fore- 

 leg was curiously dilated and toothed. He stated that he took the 

 specimen at Oxshott, Surrey, on the 27th September last. The Rev. C. 

 F, Thornewill exhibited a black variety of the male of Argynnis aglaia, 

 taken by himself in July last on Cannock Chase ; also a number of 

 living larvae of a species of Enpithecia feeding on the flower-heads of 

 Tanacetlun viilgare collected in a limestone quarry in Leicestershire. 

 He expressed some doubt as to the identity of the species, but the 



