SOCtETtES. 315 



formalin as a preventive of mould, and said that it would probably be 

 found of use in insect collections ; an object once sprayed Avith this 

 substance never became mouldy afterwards. Professor Meldola said 

 that formalin was another name for a solution of formic aldehyde : it 

 is now much used in the colour industry, and is, therefore, produced 

 on a large scale. 



The City of London Entomological and Natural History Society. 

 — November 3rd, 1896. — Insects from Wisbech. — Mr. Oldham ex- 

 hibited tlmia iota, P. chrysitis (larger and darker than usual), and 

 Euchlo'e cardaiiiine-s, with the central spot very small, all from Wis- 

 bech. Aberrations. — Mr. H. H. May exhibited Boaiinia repandata, 

 ab. conversaria (3 S^ and 3 J ), taken at Lyndhurst, June, 1896. Also 

 a male Himcra pennaria, having the wings suffused with smoky brown, 

 and the apical white spot rather larger than usual ; and a $■ A(jrotis 

 exdainatioHts with confluent stigmata. Egg of Pamphila comma. — Mr. 

 Bacot said he had opened an egg of Paiupliila comma on October 11th 

 last, and had found the young larva fully developed within. Pup^e of 

 Papilio biachaon. — He also read the following notes on pupae of 

 Papilio machaon : — " During the past season I had some larvre of 

 Papilio machaon. They were fed up on carrot-tops, in a hat-box, with 

 a small muslin-covered opening in the lid to admit light and air. 

 Three or four fastened themselves upon carrot stems, and produced 

 green pupaD. Three attached themselves to a red terracotta flour- 

 pan (exhibited), and turned to grey pupte, strongly shaded with dark 

 brown. The remainder (seven) pupated on the white sides and top 

 of the box, and were in every case of the grey form, though varying 

 greatly as to the extent and depth of the brown shading, one being 

 dirty white rather than grey, with hardly a trace of darker shading on 

 it." Mellinia ocellaris in Essex. — Mr. Tutt exhibited a specimen of 

 M. octilaris, and read the following notes : — " The specimen exhibited 

 was captured by Mr. F. Whittle, in September, 1894, who writes : — 

 ' I send for your inspection a fine specimen of M. <iilra(io. I suppose 

 it is (lilvaijo, not ocellaris, although its superior wings are sharply 

 falcate, and there is a conspicuous white spot at the base of the 

 reniform. M. ijilvaijo was not uncommon at the time.' There is no 

 doubt that it is M. ocellaris. The fact that the British individuals of 

 Mellinia ocellaris are almost always taken where M. (/ilra[/o occurs, leads 

 me to refer to a quotation from The Brit. Noctuae and their Varieties, 

 vol. iv., p. 122. This relates to a statement by Fuchs, who says : — 

 ' My own captured (/ilvat/o and ocellaris, however, lead me to believe 

 in the identity of these species, as I have one [/ilra;/u with the tips of 

 the fore-wings acutely pointed as in ocellaris. All my specimens, 

 both of !/ilvai/o and ocellaris, have been taken in the noted poplar 

 avenue of Hamburg, where nilrai/o is the rarer, and ocellaris the 

 commoner species. The freshly-emerged specimens were taken on the 

 trunks of poplars during the afternoon' (Stett. Knt. Zeit., \ol. x\i\., 

 p. 264)." Mr. Tutt said that, in his opinion, the species were abun- 

 dantly distinct, and he exhibited a typical specimen of Mellinia (jilraf/o 

 for comparison. Isle of Man insects. — Mr. Tutt exhibited, for Mr. 

 H. Shortridge Clarke, a box of insects from the Isle of Man, com- 

 prising, among others, Hipparchia semele, a male specimen of the ab. 

 addenda, Zijgaena trifolii, Ai/rotis corticea, A. resti>iialis, A. tritiei, 

 Pseudoterpna pruinata, Relotropha leucostii/ma, Epunda Inttdenta 



