2G2 [April, 



lOa March, 1887.— The President in the Chair. 



Messrs. D. J. Rice and H. H. Druee were elected Members. 



Mr. G-oldthwaite exhibited N^^/ssia Mspidaria, Fb. (bred). Mr. J. W. Slater, a 

 variety of Arctia Caja, L., having the red colour replaced by a yellowish or buff 

 colour, and he stated that it had been bred by Mr. Mutch, of Hornscy, who had fed a 

 number of larvae on lime, and the remainder on the usual food-plants, with the result 

 that all those fed on the lime were this yellow form, the others being normal. Mr. 

 E. Adkin, Zanclognatha tarsipennalis, Tr., and remarked that nearly twelve months 

 had elapsed between tlie escape of the larvae from the eggs and the emergence of the 

 imagines. Mr. Billups exhibited Tapinoma melanocephalum, For., taken in the 

 Palm House, Kew Gardens, on Hovea GrisehacJtia, from Tropical Australia, and he 

 stated that this brought the number of Exotic ants found in Kew Gardens by 

 Messrs. Smith, Saunders, and himself, up to seven species. Mr. E. Step contributed 

 a paper on " Mosses." — H. W. Barkek, Hon. Sec. 



Entomological Society of London : 3Iarch 2nd, 1887. — Dr. D. Sharp, 

 F.Z.S., President, in tlie Chair. 



The Eev. T. W. Daltry, M.A., F.L.S., of Madeley Vicarage, Staffordshire ; Dr. 

 Neville Manders, L.R.C.P., of the Army IMedical Staff, Mooltan, India ; Mr. Alfred 

 Sich, of Chiswick ; and Mr. J. T. McDougall, of Blackhoath, were elected Fellows. 



Mr. Slater exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Mutch, two specimens of Arctia Caja, 

 one of which was bred from a larva fed on lime leaves, and the other from a larva 

 fed on low plants, the ordinary pabulum of the species. The object of the exhibition 

 was to show the effect of food in causing variation in Lepidoptera. 



Capt. H. J. Elwes exhibited a large number of Lepidoptera- Ileterocer a, caught 

 by him in the verandah of the Club at Darjeeling, in Sikkim, at an elevation of 7000 

 feet, on the niglit of the 4th of August, 1886, between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. The 

 specimens exhibited represented upwards of 120 species. He slated that Mr. A. R. 

 Wallace's observations on the conditions most favourable for collecting motlis in the 

 tropics were fully confirmed by his own experience during four months' collecting in 

 Sikkim and the Khasias. The conditions referred to by Mr. Wallace were a dark 

 wet night in the rainy season ; a situation commanding a large extent of virgin forest 

 and uncultivated ground ; and a whitewashed verandah, not too high, with powerful 

 lamps in it. He said tliat on many nights during June and July he had taken from 

 60 to 80 species, and during his stay he had collected between 000 and 700 species. 

 He also made some remarks on the Kliasia Hills, the southern slopes of wliich he 

 believed to be the true habitat of the greater part of those insects described many 

 years ago by Prof. Westwood and others as coming from Sylhet, which was situated 

 in a ilat culti rated plain, under water during the rainy season, and not many miles 

 distant from these hills. In consequence of the unhealthy and extremely hot and 

 wet climate of these bills no Europeans had done much collecting there, but the speci- 

 mens were chiefly caught by the natives and brought into the town of Sylhet for sale. 



The Rev. W. W. Fowler exhibited a specimen of Cathormiocerus sociua, taken a 

 few years ago at Sandown, Isle of Wight. Mr. S. Stevens exhibited specimens of 

 Cathormiocerus maritimus and Plaiytarsus hirtzis. Mr. F. Grut said he was 

 requested by Mens. Peringuey, of Cape Town, to announce that the latter was 

 engaged on a monograph of Hipporrhina, and that he would be glad to receive 

 specimens and other assistance from British Entomologists. Mr. Gervase F. Mathew 

 communicated " Descriptions of new species of Rhopalocera from the Solomon 

 Islands." Mr. George T. Baker communicated " Descriptions of a new species of the 

 Lepidopterous genus Carama, together with a few notes on the genus ; " and 

 " Description of a new genua of Ehopalocera allied to Thecla." — U. Goss, Hon. Sec- 



