SOCIETIES. 199 



moss. Mr. Auld repoi'ted that the ab. NiaRATA of Limknitis sibylt^a 

 had been taken in some numbers in the New Forest this year. He 

 also knew of a specimen of Pohjammatiis iranis, having no vestige of spots 

 on the underside, and a var. of Un/as papliia, possessing a pale border and 

 a dark centre being taken. Mr. Turner had taken the second brood of 

 ZoNosoMA ANNULATA in N. Kent, and three specimens came to sugar. 

 Mr. Adkin had spent a fortnight at Eastbournk, but had seen no 

 CoLiAs EDUSA. Mr. South's experience was the same. Mr. Mansbridgc 

 had heard that the species was to be taken on the east coast. Mr. 

 Tutt, during a month spent in S. France, had seen but half-a-dozen, 

 in fact, it always appeared to be scarcer than C. Jnjale on the Continent. 

 Mr. Tutt asked if there was any direct evidence that Pyramkis cardui 

 HVBERNATED AS AN IMAGO. He had failed to find any authenticated 

 record. In N. Africa, Mr. Eaton had reported the larvte as feeding 

 during the winter. Mr. Barrett had seen imagines in late autumn, 

 and again in spring, but knew of no positive evidence of the species 

 being found in winter. Mr. Fremlin communicated the following 

 LETTER which he had received :—"' Culverlands,' 147, Willesden 

 Lane, N.W. Dear Sir, — I can offer bred A', anispicillaris (Kent; for 

 P. swarai/daria. I have them both set and unset, black pins. Can 

 also offer a fine T". antiopa (white border). Yours truly, Thos. 

 Humble Ralfe." Strong and pointed criticism of this letter ensued. 



North London Natural History Society. — Aug. 27th, 1896. — 

 Exhibits : Porthetria dispar. — Mr. C. Nicholson : Series of 1 <? and 

 8 ? s of P. ilispar, the 5 s being very handsomely marked, and one of 

 them having the ^-niark and the dot on the fore-wings united. Neur- 

 ATioN. — Mr. Nicholson also exhibited a bred specimen of Pijrainris 

 cardui, with the hind-wings much dwarfed and the nervures curiously 

 mixed up ; also wings of Aiiipliipi/ra traijopoiinniii, A. pijratiwlea, Mania 

 iiiaura and Xacnia tj/pica, showing neuration, and explanatory sketch 

 showing the difference between that of M. iiuiura and the other three. 

 Pollen glands on proboscis of butterfly and moth. — Mr. Battley : 

 Knndia Iii/pcranthm and Noctua xanthoi/rapha, with pollen glands of 

 Orchis (pi/rainidalis /) attached to proboscis, from the Warren at 

 Folkestone, July, 1896. Odonestis rotatoria. — Mr. Oldham : Fine 

 bred forms of Odonestis putatoria, from Cambridge pupf?. Captures. — 

 Mr. L. J. Tremayne : Eupithecia suhfulrata, from Leigh, and lodis 

 vernaria, from Westerham. Collrcting at Sandown. — Mr. Prout 

 wrote from Sandown : " I do not think the Londoners' experience of 

 sugar in early August was really so very difi'erent from mine ; for, 

 relatively to what one expects, it was also very bad here at that time. 

 It must be borne in mind that blank nif/hts are almost or quite unpre- 

 cedented on the Culver Downs, and that 1 consider a night Avhen there 

 are only about 50 common moths on the sugar, a wretched failure ; and 

 of such nights I have had two or three at least. Even recently, though 

 there is a slight improvement, the numbers present are not large, 

 Xoctua c-nii/rwn being much less common than usual, Tripluwna comes 

 absent, except for one cripple, which came up on two or three nights 

 (usually an abundant species here), N. .vanthoip-apha quite scarce, T. 

 ]ironuba ditto (two or three per night on the average), the other 

 Tryphsenas entirely absent; and even A;/rotis puta and Miana bicoloria 

 hardly so abundant as usual. I ought also to mention that I have 

 only seen two Peridroma suffusa and one P. saucla as yet. On the 

 other hand, I have a piece of good luck to record in the capture of five 



