72 tUE KNTOMOI-0(;Ist's KKCOl'.l). 



also inclined to allow that moisture had sonie influence in causin;r 

 melanism in this species. Mr. jNIcArthui- whose experience with dark 

 forms of this species is, perhaps, uneciualled, said that he considered 

 the dark colour was protective. In the places it haunted it could 

 not hid(> heneath ^reen leaves, as suggested by Mr. ]>arrett, l)ut 

 it rested on the diu-k peat, where it was marvellously well pro- 

 tected. "••■= Mr. Adkin, in reply, touched on three points. He did not 

 agree with Mr. Tutt that the dark coloration was protective, althougli 

 he considered it was an advantage to the species [What this means 

 we do not (juite understand. — Ed. J . He had looked into the matter of 

 the name of the species, and did not know tliat anything had been 

 ]iublished which had been generally accepted as to the change of the 

 insect's name from nnnrs. He, thei-efore, did not see the necessity 

 foi- altering the name. He knew that Dr. ])uchanan White had said 

 tliat Moray and parts of Sutherland were very mild, but yet there was 

 siiiiirtlii}iii peculiar about the atmosphere, for sallows w^re some six 

 weeks later there than in the South of England. 



A meeting of the C'AMBKinfiE Entomolooical and Natural Histoky 

 Society was lield on May 1st. Mr, ]jrown, F.E.S., exhibited some 

 interesting specimens from Australia, including a mimetic insect, 

 TniiKldni ariilii'iilid, and some of the remarkable structures made by 

 tlu' •' biisket-worms," or caterpillars of the {'ni/c/iidar, some of which 

 were formed fi-om portions of leaves woven into a sort of cocoon, 

 while another was a structure of considerable strength formed by 

 fastening together pieces of twigs cut by the insects to suitable lengths, 

 also some cocoons of Cimhr.r upon twigs of the whitethorn, found 

 near Cambridge. Mr. Paton (Queens') exhibited a specimen, believed 

 to be a hermaphrodite of Spil<is(,iiut luhririjifda. The President (Dr. 

 Sharp) read ;(, paper, illustrated by diagrams, on the structure and 

 DEVEi-oPMENT OF THE Lepidopterous WING. Hc Said that an Italian 

 observer had recently found rudiments of wings in the caterpillar of 

 the silk worm, three or four days before it was hatched from the e^g. 

 From tliis early stage he traced the development, mentioning how 

 Gonin believes that the wing becomes an external organ, the growth 

 and fate of the tracheae and the origin and structure of the nervures 

 of the wing of the perfect insect. 



The North London Natuhal History Society held a meeting 

 on Tliursday, Api'il 2;-5rd, 189(5. — Exhibits :— Mr. Prout : specimens of 

 Aiitirlca bail lata, l)red from Epping Forest larvHs, also larvfP of ( hihosia 

 siisiu'cta, from Wimbledon ova. Referring to the nomenclature of the 

 Uee Hawk Moths, he said that, as this Society was at present bound 

 by South's list, we ought to call the two species by precisely the 

 o])posite names to those which Newman used. That is to say. the 

 r>road-boi'dered species was hoiiihi/Utnniiis, the Narrow-bordered, 

 ^'iiiifitniiis. Mr. liattley had seen the first specimens of I'lrris raiKir 

 at i-'.nfield, on April IHth. Mr. R. W. Robbins made some remarks 

 on the f()i-w;ii"dness of the season, which was about two or three weeks 

 earlier than last year. Mr. Harvey I'emarked that " Sallowing " in 

 I'.ppiiig Forest on Saturday last(Ai)ril istli). bad been almost a failui-c. 

 though he had taken a few specimens of I'drlnmliKt nthriinsn, 

 Taeniovainjia i/rarilix, 7'. nnouht and 7'. iiistahilis. 



* Mr. McArtluu's full remarks form the suliject-iiiatter of a sepurute 

 article, vide, lunc. p. o4. 



