10Q [Nov ember. 



Larva of Acidalia imitaria. — I used to find the larvaj of Acidalia imitaria feeding 

 0!i privet (Li'justrmn vulgare) ; tliey seemed to affect the lower twigs, quite near the 

 ground.— E. South, 277, Camden Road, N.W. : October, 1878. 



Vegetable Moth-trap. — Seeing a notice in this month's Magazine of the vegetable 

 moth-trap, I send you a specimen. Though this moth was dead when I took it 

 from the climber, as a rule they are alive and apparently uninjured the morning after 

 their capture, and I have released as many as eighteen Plusia gamma from one plant 

 of a morning. The sensitive portion of the flower appears to be quite at the base, 

 closing, when touched by the proboscis of the victim, and holding it there like a vice. 

 Chakles R. Digbt, Studland Rectory, Wareham, Dorset : October 9th, 1878. 



[The example of Plusia gamma sent by our correspondent, caught by a flower 

 of Physianthus, was not dead as he supposed, but was alive and fluttering when the 

 box was opened on the 11th ; it was dead the next day. It appears probable that 

 the fertilization of the flowers necessitates the capture of moths. Riley has recorded 

 the same habit in America (Proc. Ac. Sci. St. Louis, vol. iii, p. cxv, Dec. Ist, 1873), 

 and with regard to insects even more powerful than Macroglossa. He remarks that 

 when they do escape, it is at the expense of part of their haustella. — Eds.]. 



Entomological Society of London : 7ih Auffust, 1878. — H. W. Bates, Esq., 

 F.L.S., &c., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. McLachlan communicated a note to the efPect that the larvae in the haulm 

 of potatoes, noticed by Professor Westwood at the Meeting of July 3rd, were pro- 

 bably those of Oortyna flavago, which is known to feed in the stems of a variety of 

 herbaceous plants. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited living examples of Teretrius picipes, found on palings 

 at Upper Norwood, and parasitic on Lyctiis oblongus. He also mentioned that 

 Mr. Clark had bred (J $ of Pachiiohia Ityperborea from pupse found under stones 

 on the mountains near Rannoch. 



Mr. Enock exhibited several remarkable varieties of British Lepidoptera. 



Mr. Rutherford stated that he had bred the parasite on the larvae of Anaphe 

 exhibited at the Meeting on the 5th June. It proved to be an ichneumon, determined 

 by Mr. F. Smith as Cryptus formosus, Brulle, known to be parasitic on Anaphe reti- 

 culata. He exhibited a series of colour-varieties of Aterica meleagris, an African 

 butterfly, as an illustration of protective resemblance, the colours varying according 

 to the nature of the soil in the districts frequented by the insect. 



Mr. Jenner Weir thought the colour-variations of Hipparchia Semcle might be 

 attributable to the same cause. Mr. Elwes was of opinion that too much stress was 

 attached to so-called protective resemblances. Mr. Distant and the President also 

 took part in the discussion. 



Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited varieties of Argynnis Paphia, captured this year in 

 the New Forest, the most interesting being males, which, from their dark coloration, 

 showed a tendency toward the ? variety known as valezina, and he was of opinion 

 that they were potentially males of this form. He remarked that although the 



