SOUTH LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETy's EXHIBITION. 131 



We have neglected much, and shall have offended many. Who 

 can describe the pathetic pleasure of two collectors of thirty or forty 

 years' standing who have at last got a large healthy pupa of 

 N. convnlruU, which they hope to breed some day ? They miss the 

 scientific value of the observation, riz. : that this proves that the species 

 tries to pass the winter with us as it passes the winter on the Continent, 

 but, owing to the late emergence of the autumn specimens, usually fails. 

 What matters it if they leave the science to others ? Their hearty 

 enjoyment is of the healthiest and most honest kind. 



We would write more if we dared ; we would contrast Mr. IMitcliell's 

 strange Vancsm urticar with those bred by Mr. Merrifield ; we would hint 

 that a stranger would leave the room honestly convinced that the Jersey 

 Tiger was the commonest British moth, that all Meadow Browns had pale 

 patches, that all Silver-washed Fritillaries had yellow spots on the 

 wings, or were of the var. ralrsina, that all specimens of Trjilirosia 

 himidnlaria were black, and that all Xoiwojihila jilantai/iniK had red, 

 white, or almost black hind wings. It is only the specialist who 

 recognises that each has brought his specialities, that there are no 

 ordinary types, but only the aberrations served up for the visitor's 

 delectation, that there are no commoners, only varieties brought for 

 his enjoyment. 



We can only reiterate our hearty thanks to all concerned for a most 

 enjoyable evening, and only hope that Messrs. Hall, Adkin, Edwards 

 and Turner were satisfied with the result. One word of regret is 

 unavoidable, riz., the absence of the vice-president, Mr. J. Henderson, 

 due to an illness which has prostrated him during the greater part of 

 the summer. May he quickly recover is the earnest wish of all his 

 fellow members. 



Sphinx pinastri in Suffolk. 



By the Hon. F. THELLUSSON. 



So far as has come under my notice, the first specimen of S. pinastri 

 taken in Suffolk was captured by Mr. Long, at Waldringfield, 

 in 1876, and another was taken by him at Tuddenham, in 1877. 

 The next record, so far as I know, is of a larva taken by the Honourable 

 Mrs. Carpenter, at Leiston, in 1880, but I do not know whether she 

 reared it. The late Dr. Hele, of Aldeburgh, states that he found the 

 first specimen in 1879, near Saxmundham, and that in 1881 he took 

 40 specimens near Aldeburgh. This, however, I would not care to 

 vouch for. The Eev. Mr. Walb has, I believe, also taken two or three 

 specimens. These are all that I know of as having been recorded from 

 Suffolk. My own experience of the insect in Suffolk began in 1891, when 

 my father (Lord Kendlesham) and brother one day discovered two 

 specimens on the trunks of firs. Ketiu-ning to the same place the next 

 day, they took about a dozen specimens, and left several more worn ones 

 there. This was in August, and therefore rather late. From these 

 we obtained eggs, from which I bred about sixty larvfe. I gave Lord 

 Walsingham about eight of these, which he reared, and some are in 

 his collection in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. 

 The next year I took none, but in the succeeding years have always 

 taken some. This year, for the first time, I have beaten the larvae, 



