2^4 [November, 



also many larvre presumably of IHster merdarius, and burrows, were observed. Tbe 

 soil was warm and moist, and this, and the presence of a quantity of vegetable 

 refuse thrown on the heap, was no doubt the attraction to tbe llisters to settle 

 there. Mr. A. J. Chitty, a specimen of Metoecus paradoxus with a part of the cells 

 of a nest of Yespa vulgaris, in which place the beetle is invariably found. The 

 beetle in the cell tucks in its head, only displaying the surface of the thorax, which 

 is coloured similarly to the face of the wasp. This peculiarity suggests a case of 

 mimicry, and Professor Poulton said that it fitted in with the case of some other 

 bees and wasps. Mr. H. Rowland-Brown, on behalf of Mr. G. F. Leigh, of Durban, 

 a $ and ? specimen of a rare Noctuid, Musgravia Leighi, Hampson, discovered by 

 him in Natal, and read remarks upon the life-history of the species, communicated 

 by the captor. Mr. Stanley W. Kemp, two recent additions to the British list of 

 Coleopfera, Bembidium argenteolum, from Lougb Neagh, Armagh, and Lcemostenus 

 complanatus from the neighbourhood of Dublin, taken in June, 1902. Mr. W. J. 

 Kaye, examples of Heliconius Lindigii, Heliconius Antiochus, and Morpho Achilles 

 from British Guiana, with notches taken out of the hind-wings, presumably by birds; 

 to illustrate that these distasteful or warning-coloured species are subject to attack, 

 this helping to show that experimental tasting as propounded by the Mullerian 

 theory of mimicry docs exist and go on. Professor L. C. Miall, F.R.S., communica- 

 ted a, Paper by Mr. T. H. Taylor, M.A., entitled, "The Tracheal System of 

 Simulium." Professor Auguste Forel, M. D., communicated a Paper entitled 

 " Descriptions of some Ants from the Rocky Mountains of Canada (Alberta and 

 British Columbia) collected by Edward Whymper." Dr. T. A. Chapman, F.Z.S., 

 read a Paper entitled " On Heterogynis paradoxa." — H. Goss and H. Rowland- 

 Beown, Hon. Secretaries. 



ALGERIAN BUTTERFLIES IN FEBRUARY, MARCH and APRIL, 1902. 

 BY MRS. MARY DE LA B. NTCIIOLL, F.E.S. 



Although Algeria is visited every winter and spring by numerous 

 tourists, many of whom are entomologists, yet there is not, to my 

 knowledge, any complete work published on the Lepidoptera of the 

 country. M. Oberthiir's valuable papers contained the best, almost 

 the only, information that I was able to procure, but as these are 

 published in various volumes of the Annales of the French Entomolo- 

 gical Society, I had great difficulty in making out any sort of catalogue 

 of the insects I might hope to iind during February and March ; 

 and my ideas as to the appearance and habits of the rarer ones were 

 singularly vague. I had no book of any kind with me, so I made 

 several extraordinary mistakes about my captures. 



May and June might be profitably spent in the mountains, which 

 occupy a great part of the country, and are too high and cold to 

 produce any butterflies of much interest in March, or even in April. 

 The Atlas range, which extends along the whole coast of North Africa 



