SOOIETIES. 215 



ing experiments on two species whose larva? have a complete resting 

 period — Bonrmid rcpandata and B. robordria. At other times I have 

 experimented on lloncropJtild abniplaria, which hybernates as a })upa, 

 and they were parallel with the experiments that nature performed on 

 S. tetralanaria for Mr. Bowles. Scudder has written about it, I believe; 

 see also Dr. Chapman's notes on Arctia caia in Eat. Record, vols. iv. 

 and V. There are, of course, larvse that pass through the winter with- 

 out any very distinct resting period, but I am satisfied that in nature, 

 when an insect, which has a distinct resting period, passes, in the autumn, 

 that stage at which it normally rests — whether it be as egg, some 

 particular skin in larva, pupa, or imago — and has gone on to the next 

 stage, that no resting is possible for that particular insect until a whole 

 cycle has been completed, and it has reached that stage at which it 

 naturally rests. The rarity of such occurrence or attempts to do this 

 in nature, the fixity of the resting habit at a certain point, shows how 

 ruthlessly nature has weeded out these independent movements, and 

 how completely the race that natural selection has evolved in a given 

 district responds to the normal environment — climatic and otherwise — 

 of the district. I still consider that my explanation suffices for the 

 insects affected in the direction indicated." 



gOCIETIES. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society op London on March 

 ()th, l8i)o, Mr. B. G. Nevhison exhibited a long series of UeUothis 

 jyeltigera. He stated that the specimens were bred from larvae found 

 on the Dorsetshire coast during July, 1894, feeding on the flowers of 

 Ononis aroensifi, which were extremely luxuriant. A few were taken on 

 Hi/osci/amus niger. He added, that all the larvte went down by the end 

 of .July. Tlie first emergence took place on August "JUtli, and they con- 

 tinued coming out, at the rate of about five a day, through the rest of 

 tiiat month and September ; only five emerged in October, and the last 

 one appeared on November 11th. Mr. Nevinson said that not one 

 larva was ichneumoned, and only three or four imagines were crippled. 

 Mr. Bower exhibited a variable series of Seoparia basiatrujalis, showing 

 li«iht, intermediate and dark forms, taken at Bexley, Kent, from June 

 12th to July 7th, 1891-94. He said that the species apjjeared to be 

 poorly represented in collections, and when jiresent was almost 

 invariably mis-named. Mr. Eustace Bankes commented on the rarity 

 of the species, and said the specimens exhibited formed the most 

 interesting collection of it and its varieties which he had ever seen. 

 Lord Walsingham exhibited larva? of Pronnba yuccaseUa, which he 

 received more than four years ago from Colonido, and which were still 

 living. One specimen of the moth had emerged two years ago. Mr. 

 Goss exhibited (for Mr. G. 0. liignell) a pupa of a Tortrix, with the 

 larval legs, and also a specimen of a Sawfly {Emphi/tns cinctus), with 

 eight legs. Professor Meldola exhibited a wooden bowl from W. Africa, 

 from which, after arrival in this country, a number of beetles (DermesU'n 

 rfilpiniis) liad emerged. Specimens of the latter were also exhibited. It 



