mob.] 257 



amongst surface material, just aftor hatching and without eating anything. T find 

 that tlie same habit appears to obtain in Pyrausta serealis, though my observations 

 are not so complete as to exclude the desirability of their repetition. In fact 

 I gave the larvae no chance of feeding, and so the habit may be an alternative one 

 under compulsion, even so, it is remarkable enough. In mid July I got some moths 

 to lay eggs on thyme, which they did with reluctance and sparingly, they probably 

 wanted some composite plant. However, I treated them with neglect, and now, 

 September 28th, find that about half the young larva? died, the remainder arc alive 

 in small white silken cocoons, made in the dead petals of the flowers of the thyme. 

 It may be that they ought to have fed somewhat before making these cocoons, they 

 could hardly have the common Pyrale habit of hibernation as full-grown larvae. — 

 T. A. Chapman, Betula, Reigate : September 28th, 1908. 



The macropterous and brachypterous forms of Drymus brunneus and syfvaticus. 

 — I have had in my collection since 1892 some large pale specimens of Drymus 

 brunneus (1 <? and 2 ? 9) which I caught by sweeping in a damp place on Esher 

 Common in August, and which I have often looked at wondering if they really be- 

 longed to that species. The other day I was examining them again, and noticed 

 that the shape of the pronotum was quite different in the Esher specimens to that 

 of the ordinary form, being much widened towards the base and only slightly con- 

 tracted across the middle, whereas, in ordinary specimens there is a deep contraction 

 in the middle, the sides converging from the anterior dilatation towards it, and then 

 diverging to the basal angles, the width of the base being scai'cely if at all greater 

 than that of the widest portion of the pronotum in front of the constriction. These 

 Esher specimens are macropterous, and I think they are worthy of note, as I 

 cannot find the macropterous form of D. brunneus mentioned by any of the 

 authorities which I have been able to refer to. In consulting Flor's " Rhynchoten 

 Livlands " in this matter I find he mentions both forms of Drymus sylvaticus, the 

 brachypterous form being that which we know by the name of var. ryei. I have 

 always kept this variety as distinct in my collection, but I had not realized that its 

 characters depended on its being brachypterous. — Edward Saunders. St. Ann's, 

 Woking*: October 17th, 1908. 



^ori<?ttes. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History Society : 

 Thursday, Sept. 2Uh, 1908. — Mr. Alfred Sich, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



Dr. Chapman exhibited a dark suffused specimen of Brenthis pales from Saas- 

 Fee, and an example of Anthrocera exulans var. flava from the same locality. Mr. 

 Cowham, an example of Ophiodes lunaris bred in July, 1907, from an ovum sent him 

 from South France by Dr. Chapman. Messrs. Harrison and Main, a long series of 

 Eupitheeia absynthiata bred from larvae collected on ragwort near Cork. Mr. 

 Newman, long series of Agriades corydon taken near Dover, including var. obsoleta, 

 and many blue females ; many blue females of Polyommatus icarus from North 

 Kent ; and two striking forms of Dicranura vinula, one very dark, almost chocolate 

 suffusion, the other having the zigzag liues unusually cleanly cut and dark, the 



