socit;Tit;s. 71 



SOCIETIES. 



Soi Til London Entomological Society. — April 28r(l, 1896, Mr. C. A. 

 r>rig,<^s exhibited a male specimen of Stylops melitt/i:, taken at 

 Leatherhead on April iHtli, 189G. Messrs. Barrett and Turner : 

 series of 'l'nii>lia<nu orhonn {comes) from various localities. Mr. Adkin : 

 his very long and varied series of the same species from many localities 

 in the lii-itish Islands, and also specimens from Asia Minor and 

 I'juropt'. He then read a paper entitled, Fukthek notes on Tkyi-hjcna 

 coMKs WITH spKCiAL REFERENCE TO VAR. cKRTisii. After referring to his 

 previous paper on the subject, Mr. Adkin gave an account of 

 the geographical distril)ution of this species, stating that its eastern 

 boundary extended into Asia, but was ill-defined, Avhilst to the south 

 it included North Africa, and to the west was bounded by the Atlantic 

 sea-board. Its northern boundary was remarkably constant, for, so far 

 as it has been recorded, it was bounded by the parallel of 59*^ N. lat. 

 in Russia, Denmark, Sweden and the Orkneys, whilst the species was 

 absent from Norway and the Shetlands. The species is, on the con- 

 tinent, only slightly variable. In x\sia Minor the specimens are of 

 an uniform clay colour, and the insect only develops the s))ecicil 

 melanic forms towards its north-western boundaries. It becomes red 

 in its more western localities, whilst in the Scilly Isles it is peculiiirly 

 marked with strongly de\eloped scalloped transverse lines. He con- 

 sidered that southern Europe was the original home of the species. 

 He jiointed out that Mr. Merritield had suggested that the darkening 

 of some lepidoptera was due to the influence of low temperatures, and 

 lie was inclined to think that the darkening of 7'. nrJxnia was due to a 

 somewliat similar cause, as it only occurred in the most north-westerly 

 part of its range where the temperature was low. Mr. Adkin found 

 that the larva, which hybernated during the middle of winter in nature, 

 under the influence of a higher temperature, in confinement, con- 

 tinued to feed all the winter. Mr. Barrett called attention to the way 

 in whicli the waved line mentioned by Mr. Adkin was formed, c/^., by 

 the union of the elbowed line with a series of dots which ran parallel 

 to it. Mr. Tutt said that the formation of this line had been well ex- 

 plained by the Rev. Mr. Burrows in his recent article "On Calaiiiia 

 liitosd and its variation,'' and that it was of very general occurrence in 

 various Noctuid families. He considered that Mr. Adkin was entirely 

 wrong in attributing the cause of the melanism of iyjipliaoui orlmna 

 to cold, for Dr. Buchanan White and Mr. Norman had repeatedly 

 pointed out that the districts haunted by this particular form, c/:., 

 Forres, Sutherland, &c., were among the mildest in the British Islands, 

 and that many species which were (piite missing in the ' north of 

 England and southern Scotland re-occurred again in these districts. 

 Macaria natata was a well-known instance. He looked upon the 

 variation as due to protective resemblance. He further remarked 

 that ]\Ir. Adkin still retained the name of 7'. vawrR, first used 

 erroneously in this country in Tlir Kntimiolni/ist Si/iHiin/viir IJst, 

 l)ut he had shown [llrit. Xacf. and their Varieties, vol. ii.) that 

 the old nomenclature, as generally used in Britain — »•/:., 7'. nrlmjia, 

 Hufn., for the common species, and 7'. stibsetiiia, Hb., for the rarer 

 one, was correct. Mr. Barrett doubted Avhether the coloration was 

 protective as the imago of T. (irbnna rested under leaves. He was 



