SOCIETIES. 85 



figure, though it seems probable that such exist. It would have a 

 similar relation to tauaria to that which the ashy-brown type has to the 

 gi'eyer sub- variety. The form Avith the pale outer margin is also, 

 unfortunately, far from common ; it is perhaps the most beautiful form 

 of the species ; in the specimen which I exhibit it will be noticed that 

 the pale band is continued across the hind-wings, dividing these into a 

 dai'k basal area and an outer nearly white area. Melanic specimens are 

 likewise scarce ; they usually show traces of the outer marginal band. 

 I exhibit also a few other variations ; two specimens show a tendency 

 to the development of a solid black median band ; another is a very 

 dull brown diffused example ; a third is more thinly scaled than usual. 

 The decidedly paler and more clearly marked character of Continental 

 (especiall}' French) specimens is very evident, both from the figures of 

 Hiibner and Duponchel and from the remarks of Guenee. The figures, 

 too, represent the insect as having two lines across the hind-wings; I 

 have no specimens in which these are present but, in a few, there are 

 slight indications of them. The great majority of my examples from 

 Ep2:)ing Forest are tyjjical, sombre-looking and indistinctly marked. 



And now a few words about the ? . As has been more than once 

 pointed out, there is a pale greenish-grey form and a dark reddish-black 

 form. It is most easily distinguished from the female of P. pedarid 

 by the legs, which are nearly smooth in pedaria but very hairy (at least 

 the basal joints are) in hkpklaria. The antennje of the latter, too, are 

 more pectinated and she is stouter structurally, 



Guenee writing of the genus Nyssia, Dup. remarks on the strong 

 build and hairiness of the thorax, the semi-transparency of the wings 

 in the ^ (this transparency is rather noticeable in some examples of 

 hispidaria) and the apterous character of the J s. He states that all 

 the species are more or less rare ; and that he knew only Euroj^ean 

 species. Guene'e divided the genus into two groujDS — the first having 

 the rings of the abdomen in the $ s adorned by circles of colours often 

 rather bright. This first gToup includes our zonaria, lapponaria and 

 hispidaria belonging to the second. Our two species (omitting lappon- 

 aria, of which I know nothing) differ widely in form and in habits, 

 hispidaria resting on tree trunks and its coloration assimilating itself 

 to the trees on which it rests, while zonaria frequents sandhills, its 

 coloration protecting it among the grasses, &c. of its habitat. 



Dr. Buckell remarked that the Aniphidasi/dae consisted so far as this 

 country was concerned of six species, three of which had apterous 

 females and the other three females with fully-developed wings. He 

 did not know whether there were any Continental species which 

 occupied an intermediate position as regarded this characteristic. 



Mr. Tutt, in rising to jjropose a vote of thanks to Mr. Bayne, 

 congratulated him on the interesting paper he had fiu-nished, and then 

 went on to say that he quite agreed with Mr. Bayne on the improba- 

 bility of hispidaria having been affected by immigration, although it 

 was remarkable how widely distributed some si)ecies with apterous 

 females were, and the males of two species with a2)terous females, 

 Hybcruia defoliaria and H. aarantiaria Avere known to migrate. The 

 abundance he considered due to local causes, one important feature tliat 

 struck him being that the previous year the oaks had been less deh)liated 

 than usual by the ravages of Tortrix viridaaa, and it was remarkable 

 that Taeniocainpa munda, another oak feeder, was abundant the same 



