SOCIETIES. 281 



exhibited some drawers of Miss Founfcaine's bred series of African 

 Chara.vi's. Professor Poulton commented on these, regretting that the 

 parent had not been preserved with the corresponding offspring in each 

 case. A Pompilid Mimicked by a Reduviid Bug. — Dr. Chapman 

 exhibited a box of insects from the Riviera to ilhistrate a case of 

 mimicry. He said that in March and April, both at Hyeres and at 

 Amelie-les-Bains, his attention was attracted to a Reduviid bug. Pirates 

 hyhridus, Scop. He followed up one or two on the wing, taking 

 them for Pompilid Hymenoptera, and when they settled on the ground 

 their movements were precisely those of Pompilus when hunting on 

 the ground — sharp, active, jerky, and taking wing at once if alarmed. 

 The red colouring on the elytra was, when running, much like the red 

 of a Pompilid body between or under the wings. On picking up the 

 bug, it often occurred that one was stung, about as sharply as many 

 Pompilids do, and some are fairly proficient therein. The sting was 

 of course the thrust of the beak or proboscis, of which not a few 

 Reduviid bugs can make effective weapons of defence. An Unexplained 

 Association. — Dr. Chapman also read the following note on a nest 

 of PolisteH (jallica : " At Hyeres, on March 29th, 1911, at 10.30 a.m., 

 with a gale from the east (Sirocco), sky overcast and a few drops 

 of rain, I found, on turning over a stone, under its edge a small 

 nest of Polistea (i/allica). The nest consisted of eight small cells, 

 in each of five of which was one egg. It could not have been founded 

 very long. Under it (above it before the stone was turned over) there 

 rested not one 2 but two 5 s side by side. The advancement of the 

 nest showed that it was impossible for one of these to be a worker 

 reared in the nest. Were they working together, or was one only a 

 casual visitor, taking shelter during the inclement weather ? In the 

 latter case would it not have been regarded and treated as an enemy, 

 instead of both resting together in a thoroughly friendly way ? " 

 Living Larvae of Callophrys avis. — Dr. Chapman also exhibited 

 some well-grown larvae of Callophn/s acis from the Riviera. 

 Hemipterous Mimics of Hymenoptera. — Prof. Poulton exhibited on 

 behalf of Mr. A. H. Hamm, assistant in the Hope Dept. of the Oxford 

 University Museum, a case of insects illustrative of certain associations 

 of mimetic British Hemiptera-Heteroptera, with their Hymenopterous 

 models, and communicated a paper from him. A new Female form, 

 LEiGHi, of Papilio dardanus. — Prof. Poulton exhibited the trophonius 

 parent and the fifty-five ofl'sping reared from her eggs by Mr. G. F. 

 Leigh, F.E.S., of Durban. She was captured by Mr. Leigh on June 

 26th, 1910, at Pinetown, Natal (about 1,000 ft.), and laid sixty-two eggs 

 on June 27th-28th. The parent is a typical trnphonius, the offspring 

 consisting of 25 males, 22 cenea females, 4 trnphonius females, 2 

 hippocoon females, and 2 leif/lii females. There can be no doubt that 

 this variety, bred in Natal by Mr. Leigh six times in 1910, and also 

 captured twice in Natal, possesses sufficient stability to rank as one of 

 the female forms of dardanus;. Further convincing evidence of its 

 stability as a form is seen in the fact that it also occurs almost 

 unchanged so far away from Natal as the N.E. corner of the Victoria 

 Nyanza. Euralia anthedon, Doubl., and E. dubia, Beauv. — -Prof. 

 Poulton exhibited a female parent of the dnhia form captured on 

 March 19th, 1911, at Omi, 70 miles E. of Lagos, by Mr. W. A. 

 Lamborn, together with a selection from the offspring reared from its 



