CI RKKiNT NUTt;s. 25 



bark, and one Arallfs tmhatiis, Boh., resembled buds. Of the rest, there 

 were tive species of J>r<i)inus, Amsd.rt/a fitsnila. 111., (hr/iesia niicavs, 

 ^SLiiZ., < liitocara ti'trainn-a, Thorns., and Titratniua aiicoia, F. 



At the same meeting Air. R. Adkin exhibited a hybrid Selcma 

 biliinaria x tetralioiaiia, together with spring and summer examples 

 of both species for comparison. From a pairing which took place 

 between a wild J lu'liniaria and a 9 ti'tralmuiria reared in captivity, 

 about sixty ova were obtained, about half of which hatched. The larvte 

 appeared to be sickly, and, in the result, only three imagines were reared, 

 all males, which emerged between July 30th and August 2nd. The 

 hybrid presented some of the markings of each of its parents, the 

 cresentic blotch at the apex of the forewings, and the band on the 

 hindwings closely folk)wing tctralunaria, but no trace of the dark spot 

 usually so distinct on each of the wings of that species, especially in 

 the summer emergence, was visible, while the " second line " of the 

 forewings closely followed bilnnaiia. In colour it more nearly 

 resembled that of the summer brood of tctraliivaria. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London held on 

 November 19th, 1902, Professor Poulton made some mteresting remarks 

 on what he terms " gastric education of larv;f ," /.c, the education of the 

 alimentary canal to become accustomed to some particular food until 

 the larva will refuse any other and starve rather than eat it ; although 

 it may be a well-known foodplant for larva^ that have been placed 

 upon it when quite young. He stated that Mr. Church had observed 

 the larvfe of a species of Cm-idlia (probably ('. verhasci) feeding upon 

 Buddleiii ijhthoxa which was growing against a wall in Oxford Botanical 

 Gardens. Mr. Church had sent roots of the same plant to a friend at 

 Warwick, and there, when grown in a similar position in his garden, 

 they were all attacked by the same species during the past summer 

 (1902), There are three of these plants growing about ten yards 

 apart, each about five feet high, surrounded by roses, and very 

 inconspicuous. It is possible that the eggs are laid upon the Buddleia 

 because of the very rough general resemblance in certain respects 

 between its leaves and those of Ifrbasridii. In the same manner, as 

 Professor Poulton suggested in 1887, the common foodplants of 

 SmeriufJnix nrcllata, vi:., apple and sallow may be explained by the 

 parent moth having mistaken the one for the other [Trans. H)it. Sor. 

 Lond., 18H7, p. 314). In this memoir it is shown that many young 

 larva?, on emergence from the egg, are able to feed upon strange species 

 of plants, which, later, they would refuse, if specialised to one of the 

 recognised foodplants. Mr, K. McLachlan said that no doubt the first 

 foodplant of the young larva was an important factor. Mann'stra 

 2>er>ii(ariae, a pest in his garden at Lewisham, as a rule attacked first 

 and most Aiuunnu' jain'iiica. He had this year offered them fern and 

 elder (which is reputed a favourite food), but nothing suited them 

 except the original anemone. 



]\lr. Goss stated that in August 1898 and 1899, he collected numbers 

 of iarvfe of KioiiDrpIia t'ljifiiar feeding on liiipatims i'ulra, a North 

 American species of balsam, which has naturalised itself on the Wey- 

 bridge Canal and on some parts of the Thames. When the balsam was 

 exhausted he supplied the larvit' with the usual foodplant of the 

 species, KjdlobiuDi /lirsiitHii), because it was easily obtainable close 

 at hand. He also ofi'ered the larv:T Fnc/iHia, Galinvi molluifu and G. 



