SOCIETIES. 71 



as to it. 6". sphegiformis emerges in the early morning in a similar 

 manner, and it depends on whether the morning is bright and sunny or 

 the reverse how early they come out. I have not the exact times, but I 

 know that on sunny mornings I used to be up about 8 o'clock looking 

 after them, as they are fidgety insects after they -have dried their wings. 

 They used to prefer the sunny mornings for emergence, and I used to 

 expose them to the morning sun. On dull mornings they came out, if 

 at all, much later, about 8 a.m. or so, and I remember one came out 

 about lo a.m. It was interesting to watch the whole performance; the 

 beak of the pupa case first breaking, the bark over its hole, then the 

 pupa forcing its way out to three parts of its length, after which the pupa 

 case would burst and '•'■ sphegiformis'''' would emerge. Sometimes when 

 their wings were dry, and they saw me, they took fright and went from 

 the top of the cage to the bottom like a flash of lightning, so that I 

 could not see where they had gone, and had to look about at the 

 bottom to see where they were. — A. Robinson. March nth, 1893. 



I would just remark that in breeding Epione vespertaria last year, the 

 time of emergence was about sunrise, but I also found that a small 

 proportion made their appearance about sunset, which led me to believe 

 that light had something to do with it, and further explained why we 

 generally meet a small number after dark when collecting other insects on 

 the same ground, which no doubt are those which emerge at sunset. 

 The principal time of flight is from 6 to 9 a.m. I might further remark 

 that some mornings mostly males emerged, and the following morning 

 nearly all females. Of course in its native habitat we rarely come 

 across the latter, but a goodly number of the former, but in the breeding 

 cage I could find out no reason for this singular phenomenon. — R. 

 Button, Castle Mills Bridge, York. March igth, 1891. 



Societies. 



Entomological Society of London. — May 6. — Dr. D. Sharp exhibited 

 a number of eggs of Dytisciis margijialis laid on the sheath of a species of 

 reed, and commented on the manner of their oviposition, which he said 

 had been fully described by Ur. Regimbart. The Rev. A. E. Eaton 

 exhibited a collection of PsychodidcB from Somersetshire, including six 

 species of Psychoda, eleven species of Periconia, and one species of 

 Ulomyia. Mr. M'Lachlan commented on the interesting nature of the 

 exhibition. Mr. P. Cowley exhibited a specimen of Prothoc caledo?iia, a 

 very handsome butterfly from Perak ; and a specimen of another 

 equally handsome species of the same genus from Tonghou, Burmah, 

 which was said to be undescribed. The Secretary read a letter from 

 Mr. Merrifield, pointing out that the statement made by Mr. Fenn, at 

 the meeting of the Society on the ist of April last, of his views on the 

 effects of temperature in causing variation in lepidoptera, was incorrect ; 

 he (Mr. Merrifield) had never suggested what might happen to Tcenio- 

 campa instahilis, and had expressly stated that he had found a reduction 

 of the temperature below 57° to produce no effect, whereas in Mr. 

 Fenn's experiments the temperature must have been below 40°. The 

 Secretary also read a letter which Lord Walsingham had received from 

 Sir x\rthur Blackwood, the Secretary of the Post Oflice, in answer to 



