280 THE entomologist's reookd. 



lanclshire. Mr. P. Bright of Bournemouth, exhibited a series of a smoky 

 form of Sj^ilosoma menthasiri from the North of Scotland; Zijgacna 

 exulans and Cramhns furcatellm, taken by himself this year at Braemar ; 

 Sesta scoliiformis from Eannoch ; a dark and well-marked specimen of 

 Noctna (jlareosa from Montrose ; dark forms of Psilura monacha, Tortrix 

 piceana and a chalky variety of Pynjus malme, from the New Forest. 



City of London Entomological and Natural History Society. — 

 Sept. 'lad, 1894. — Exhibits: — Mr. Prout : a series of seven Leucania 

 alhipmcta, taken on sugar at Sandown, S.W., from which he had been 

 unable to obtain ova. He had also taken one specimen each of Caradrina 

 amhi<jua and Tripliaena snbseqna. j\Ir. Battley : Euholia hipunclana and 

 Zi/gaena filipendidae from Bere liegis, Devon. The former were very 

 neat, and he specially drew the attention of the members to two of the 

 latter ; one of these had the black band on the hind wings occupying 

 nearly the whole of the wing, as is often the case in Z. trifoUi ; the 

 other specimen had the upper spot of the middle pair of spots, reduced 

 to a mere dot, and the spot nearest the tips, strongly bisected by the 

 wing-ray. Mr. Bloomfield : bred Nonayria typhae from Bures, Suffolk. 

 Dr. Sequeira : Pferophoms laonodactylus, Anthli/ptdia acaiithodacfyla, Oxyp- 

 tilus iencri'i, PlatyptiUa zetterstedfii, Aciptilia spilodadyla (? Ed. from 

 Folkestone) and A. tetrudaciyla, all from Folkestone. Mr. Bacot : larvae of 

 Busina tenebrosd from ova, from Ongar Park Wood ; he remarked that 

 they were very slow feeders, and would probably hybernate when full- 

 grown : also a bred series of Triphosa dahitata from Chingford. Mr. Han- 

 bury : a very striking, pale form of Agrotis tritici from Hunstanton. Mr. 

 Clark : a variable lot of Gnophos obscurata from Folkestone Warren. 

 Mr. Tutt, commenting on these, observed that this species was one which 

 responded very readily to its environment, and hence produced very 

 strongly marked local races. Being an insect which rested on the ground, 

 and occurred on a variety of geological formations, it was interesting to 

 note how " natural selection " had stepped in, and pei'fected these local 

 races. The dark New Forest and Perth races were, perhaps, the most 

 melanic ; another very distinct race occurred at Clevedon, whilst the 

 palest local race yet obtained in Britain, came from the neighbourhood 

 of Lewes. At Folkestone, it was widely spread, occurring by the road- 

 sides, and being scattered over the Warren. The geological conditions 

 of Folkestone were not at all uniform, the Gault and Chalk both play- 

 ing, however, a large part in the localities inhabited by this insect. 

 The hedge-sides, too, with their peaty and leafy coverings, side by side 

 with the bare chalk-hills, tended to preserve dark and h'ght sjjecimens 

 somewhat indiscriminately, with the result that a sort of polymorphism 

 was set up in the species there, of which, however, the palest rarely 

 equalled the Lewes specimens, nor the darkest the Perth specimens, 

 whilst a very pretty form with a dark central band occurred some 

 years in fair numbers, and was rather remarkable. Mr. Tutt : sj)eci- 

 mens of Zygaena exulans from Braemar, Cogne and the Grauson Valley, 

 all of wliich were referable to Dalman's var. vanadis ; also specimens 

 from Lauteret in Savoy, and from Lauzon in Piedmont ; tlie Lauteret 

 specimens were beautifully streaked witli orange along the nervures, as 

 were the Lauson s[»ccimens with yellow. The extreme Grauson speci- 

 mens were almost identical with the Lauzon s})ecimens, yet, at the other 

 end, they were inseparable from Scotch specimens. Mr. Battley 

 referring to Vjjgaena filipcndulae var. ceriuns, said that this variety could 

 be obtained at Lyme Kegis, in one small spot, where it bred regularly 

 every year. 



