sociEtiEs. 283 



when Mr. McArthur exhibited a very long series of Tryphacna comes, 

 from Hoy, all of them being intermediate between the type and var. 

 curlisii, and without black suffusion of hind-wings ; also a number of 

 extinct, rare and unique species and specimens of Lepidoptera, 

 including a series of Chrysophnnus dispar, a pair of Lasiocavipa 

 ilicifolia, two completely banded and one with yellow ground ; 

 Abraxas (jrosstilariata ; two Killarney specimens of Notodonta 

 hicolor ; the original specimen of Ntjssla Injiponaria ; two Synia 

 muscnlosa : a specimen of Hadena peregrina, from Lewes; three 

 Caradrina amhigua ; one Xylina lambda var. ztnckenii ; three 

 Ophiodes lunarls, one of which is a beautifully banded var.; the 

 unique Catocnla electa, taken by Mr. Vine ; one C. fraxini : and a 

 series of EupoeciUa gilvicomana. Mr. R. Adkin : a specimen of 

 Cuculli'i. gnaphalii, bred by the late Mr. Tugwell. Mr. Sturt : speci- 

 mens of 8pmNX CONVOLVULI, BRED FROM CoRNISH LARV.K. Mr. Tutt 



remarked that Mr. Sturt deserved great credit for getting Sphinx 

 ronvohmli through, and he was, he believed, the first British lepi- 

 dopterist who had bred the insect from the larva to the imago. 

 Prof. Poulton got the larva through to the pupal stage, although 

 since that time there had been more than one suggestion in the 

 magazines that S. conrohuli might hybernate in the imaginal 

 stage. Mr. Oldham exhibited Cosmia apnis from Epping Forest. 

 Mr. Frohawk : the contents of a pheasant's crop, consisting mainly 

 of the larva^ of the Dipteron, Bibo uiarci. Mr. Moore : an Ich- 

 neumon, with an extremely long ovipositor, from the Upper Amazon. 

 Mr. Auld, a bred series of Tortrix cratacgana, from the New 

 Forest. The pup?© were found spim up in leaves of buckthorn 

 under oaks. Mr. Carpenter : a very large number of Argyunis paphia 

 and its vars. Mr. South : a number of Argynnidae from the PahB- 

 arctic region, and read a paper on " The gknus Argynnis, with 



PARTICULAR KEFEREN'CE TO VARIETIES HAVING PALE AREAS." In thc 



course of his remarks, Mr. South pointed out that in many specimens 

 the pallid spots were constant in position, and considered that Mr. 

 Frohawk's suggestion, that they were ancestral markings, was pro- 

 bably the correct explanation of these pallid areas. Mr. Barrett 

 doubted this, and considered that it was more probably due to a 

 diseased condition of the larva or pupa. Mr. Robinson asked what 

 was the condition of the scales on these patches, as they appeared to 

 him to be more or less transparent or absent. Mr. Frohawk stated 

 that he had examined the scales under a microscope, and had found 

 that they were present, but were without the ordinary pigment. Mr. 

 Tutt then remarked that this statement practically gave away the 

 whole theory propounded by Mr. South (and first suggested to him 

 by Mr. Frohawk), ri;., that the marks were simply ancestral cha- 

 racters ; for the allied species which had been mentioned, and in which 

 pale marks appeared towards the costa, as pointed out by Mr. South, 

 and which he considered were parallel to the pale patches exhibited 

 by the male A. ^mjo/zui, to which the discussion referred, had these 

 pale patches fully pigmented. He further considered that the irregu- 

 larity in size and shape, the variation in position, and the fact that 

 the peculiarity was sometimes extended to a whole, or to a large 

 portion of a, wing, militated against the idea ; whilst to say that the 

 patches were reversions to ancestral characters was no explanation 



