CONVERSAZIONE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 127 



and twenty- three on currant, both Riles rubrum and R. nigrum; 

 favourite currant bushes being those trained against a south wall. 



Position of the ova. — Only two leaves were found occupied by more 

 than a single egg ; one had two eggs deposited close together, but not 

 touching, on the upperside; while the other leaf had one egg on either 

 side. One of these leaves was adjacent to two other leaves, each 

 bearing a single egg, so that four eggs were laid on one twig ; other- 

 wise, the eggs were well distributed over a number of bushes. With 

 one exception, eggs laid on the upperside of a leaf, were deposited on 

 the extreme edge ; and all, excepting one, of those laid on the under- 

 sides (principally of folded young leaves), were to be found at some 

 distance from the edge. Nineteen were laid on the upperside of leaves, 

 six on the undersides, one on the point of a leaf-bud, one on the base 

 of a shoot, and one on a twig, some way from any leaves. 



Variation of ova. — The number of the longitudinal keels vary as 

 follows — nine with eleven keels, seventeen with ten, and two with nine. 



Conversazione of the Royal Society. 



At the Conversazione of the Royal Society, held on May 8th at 

 Burlington House, entomological subjects were unusually well repre- 

 sented among the exhibits, and, to those who could spare time from 

 the excitement of the working model of the Brennan Mono-Railway 

 and Dr. Seligmann's cinematograph exhibition of Moitu and other 

 dances from New Guinea, Professor Poulton, Dr. F. A. Dixey, Mr. 

 H. Douisthorpe, Col. Bingham, and Mr. Fred Enock had each of 

 them plenty to show and to say. Of the exhibits, Mr. Donisthorpe's 

 was the most original, and comprised a practically complete collection 

 of the invertebrata found with ants in Britain, including beetles, 

 parasitic hymenoptera, diptera, coccids, spiders, and acari, many of 

 them new to Britain, and some to science, and, with very few excep- 

 tions, captured by the exhibitor himself, thus constituting a most 

 interesting monument of indefatigable perseverance and close obser- 

 vation. The exhibit included several ants' nests with live ants, a 

 small plaster of Paris cell containing the beetle parasites of Formica 

 rufa, L., and another in which the slave-making ant, Formica san- 

 guined, Lat., could be seen feeding a living Lomechusa strumosa, Fab., 

 the beetle which, after an interval of nearly 200 years, save a chance 

 capture by Dr. Leach, was last year discovered in its proper habitat in 

 this country by Mr. Donisthorpe. Preparations of Acari and ( 'occidae 

 from nests of the various species of ants completed a most successful 

 display. Professor Poulton and Dr. Dixey each had an exhibit dealing 

 with an interesting entomological problem, the former "mimicry" and 

 the latter "seasonal dimorphism." These exhibits show the excellent 

 entomological work which is being done at Oxford and the use to 

 which the collections of the Hope department are put under the 

 curatorship of Professor Poulton. Professor Poulton's exhibit showed 

 all the known forms of Papilio dardanus bred from a single female, 

 and included its distinct and brightly coloured male and all three types 

 •of females which, while differing from one another, closely resemble 

 three other dissimilar, but protected, insects ; this is, we believe, the 

 first time that all the forms have been bred from a single parent, and 

 •our congratulations are due to Mr. Leigh, F.E.S., of Durban, for his 



