SOCIETIES. 



243 



paired and tried to produte a second l)rood utter extermination would 



have followed. On April lltli, Mr. Winkley exhibited a bred 



series of Ni/ssia hispidaria ; one specimen was whitish and lacked the 

 central band, the transverse lines and apical streak alone being dark 



grey ; another specimen was uniformly smoky black. On April 25th, 



Mr. Frohawk exhibited a specimen of Papilloiiiachaou,hxei\. froma Wicken 

 larva, which had ochreous-yellow blotches at the anal angle, and in 

 which the l)lue markings were almost wliite. Mr. Mansbridge : three 

 melanic s])ecimens of Phi(jalia pcdaria taken by him tin's year near 

 Barnsley : he remarked on tlie gradual extension of this form : !Mr. 

 Adkin said that Mr. South had taken one example at Macclesfield. 

 Mr. Moore: a specimen of Pterostichuf madidm, ¥., which had been 

 attacked by a Gordius. Mr. Turner : a specimen of Plmia moneta, 

 which was taken at Wickham in July, 1894, by Mr. Slade of Hatcham ; 

 also a series of Spilosomd menthnstn, two London specimens having 

 only a few small dots on the fore-wings, whilst three Scotch forms had 

 a darker ground colour and the second (or elbowed) line more or less 

 complete, especially' in one specimen. 



The North London Natural History Society had another 

 interesting meeting on March 14th Mr. Hanbury announced that 

 he had been successful in rearing Nodna ronfimi from some 

 Shetland ova. Dr. Gerard Smith delivered a lecture on " The 

 Organs of Insects,'' illustrated by photo-micrographs. Dwelling 

 for a few moments on the specially-interesting geological history 

 of insects, he said that the class Insect a was represented as far 

 l^ack as the latest Silurian strata ; and that this, like other instances of 

 the early and apparently sudden introduction of highly specialised 

 animals, suggested the possibility of our having overlooked a law of 

 rapid expansion of species under conditions as yet unknown to science ; 

 since the postulate of very gradual variation through immense periods 

 of time, even admitting tlie imperfection of the geological record, is 

 difficult to maintain in the face of such evidence. In the case of 

 Insecta it was especially so, since the theory of sudden introductions 

 being due to reversion to a far back type, which itself reached special- 

 ization by long and gradual steps, is inadmissable, owing to the period 

 before the appearance of insects being one of aquatic life. Some 

 photogi-aphs of insect eggs were then shewn. Dr. Smith said that the 

 stages of metamorphosis in insects were not new j)henomena, l)ut 

 were analagous to the stages in the ovarian life of other animal forms. 

 The eggs being very numerous, the supply of nutriment for each 

 embryo is necessai'ily insufficient for the future foundation of the 

 imago. The elementary stage has therefore to be gone through after 

 leaving the egg. Mouth parts of the wasp, bee, mosquito and flea, 

 and tongues of several insects, were then shewn ; and the great variety 

 and special modification of these for different needs noticed. Dr. 

 Smith then turned to the antennae, dwelling on the differences of 

 opinion as to their function, but said they seem formed to feel aiirial 

 vibrations, whether coarse or fine. He also gave reasons for consider- 

 ing them to be auditory organs. Some specially fine photo-micrograi)lis 

 of insects' eyes were next placed upon the sci'een, and Dr. Smith 

 explained tlie functions of simple and compound eyes respectively, 

 afterwards turning to various forms of feet of insects, and scales of 

 Lepidoptera, and other peculiarities of wings of insects. Dr. Smith 



