]_|, J. IJnne, ISvm;. 



it was feoding; he said the species was formei'ly considered rare in Britain, but was 

 now found freely in any localities where ribbon grass {Digraphis arundinacea) was 

 plentiful. The Secretary read a communication from Mr. E. Meyrick on the subject 

 of Prof Radcliffe-Grote's criticisms, contained in his paper published in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Society, 1896, pp. x-xv, on the use of certain generic terms by Mr. 

 Meyrick in writing on the group of Lepidoptera known as GeometrideB. Mr. Meyrick 

 stated that he rejected the main assumption on which the criticisms were based. 

 Mr. McLachlan opened a " Discussion as to the best moans of preventing the ex- 

 tinction of certain British Butterflies." He referred to the extinction of Chryso- 

 phanus dispar, Lycana Acii, and Aporia cratcegi, and to the probable extinction, in 

 the near future, of Papilio Machaon, and more especially of Melitaea Cinxia and 

 Lycana Arion. He stated (hat one of the objects he had in view in bringing this 

 matter forward was to see whether some plan could not be devised to protect those 

 narrowly localized species which were apparently in danger of being exterminated 

 by over-collecting. Prof. Meldola said he fully sympathized with the remarks of 

 Mr. McLachlan, and he thought that a resolution passed by the Society, possibly in 

 conjunction with kindred Societies, might produce some effect. Mr. Goss stated 

 that Papilio J/acAao «, although apparently doomed to extinction in its chief locality 

 in Cambridgeshire (Wicken Fen), would probably linger on in the county in smaller 

 fens, such as Chippenham, where the larvae had been found feeding on Angelica 

 syhiextris. It would certainly survive in the Norfolk Broads, both from the irre- 

 claimable nature of the fens there, and the extensive range of the species in the 

 disti'ict, which Mr. Goss said he had explored in 1887 in boats. He stated that 

 MelitcBa Cinxia, although gradually disappearing from most of its old localities in 

 the south of the Isle of Wight, was still found in the Island further west in localities 

 in which he had seen it in some numbers in May, 1895. He added that Lyccena 

 Arion was far from extinct in Gloucestershire, and was distributed over a much 

 wider area in the extreme south-west of England than was generally supposed. Its 

 disappearance from South Devon was due to the burning of the grass, and the con- 

 sequent destruction of the food-plant. Mr. Elwes stated that in the district in 

 which he lived in Gloucestershire, he had found L. Arion in three or four places on 

 his own property some ten or twelve miles distant from its known localities, but the 

 species had disappeared of late years. The fact that Arion had disappeared from 

 his own property, where it was not collected, seemed to point to the fact that it was 

 dying out from natural causes, perhaps owing to changes in climate. Colonel Irby 

 said that L. Arion had disappeared many years ago not only from Barnwell Wold, 

 Northamptonshire, but from another part of the county on the estate of Lord 

 Lilford, not accessible to the public, and that its disappearance there was no doubt 

 caused by the destruction of the food-plant and other herbage by burning the 

 pasture, and by the grazing of sheep. Mr. Crowley, Mr. Tutt, Mr. Waterhouse, 

 and Mr. Blandford continued the discussion. It was moved by Mr. Tutt, and 

 seconded by Mr. Elwes, that a Committee be appointed by the Council to investigate 

 the matter, and to report thereon. This was carried nem. con. Mr. Guy A. K. 

 Marshall communicated a paper, entitled, " Notes on Seasonal Dimorphism in South 

 African Rhopalocera." Mr. P. Cameron communicated a paper, entitled, " Descrip- 

 tions of new species of Hymenoptem from the Oriental Region."— H. Goss, Hon. 

 Secretary. 



