120 fMay. 1906. 



? 9 s in these closely alliecl species. He considered that this characteristic was due 

 to the fact that in every instance the $ had been diverted from the ordinary 

 aspect of the group by the operation of mimicry, either Mulleriau or Batesian. 

 The species of entirely different affinities which had acted presumably as models 

 were associated also with the exhibit. Mr. R. Ad kin showed two specimens of 

 Emmelesia unifasci'ata which had emerged in August last from pupse which h:id 

 lain over since the autumn of 1900, thus having passed five seasons in the pupal 

 stage. Dr. T. A. Chapuian, exhibited a number of specimens from the Riviera, 

 Sicily, &c , and read a paper on the " Progressive Melanism in the Riviera of 

 Hastida hyerana." A discussion followed on melanism and its causes, in which 

 Mr. Gr. T. Porritt, Dr. F. A. Dixey, the President, and other Fellows joined. 



Wednexdai}, April 4lh, 1906. — Mr. C. O. WATEiinousK, Vice-President, in 

 the Chair. 



Mr. Leonard Doncaster, M.A., King's College, Cambridge ; Major F. Winn 

 Sampson, H.M. Travelling Commissioner, Senior Officers' Mess, Old Calabars, 

 Southern Nigeria ; and Mr. Raleigh S. Smallman, Wressil Lodge, Wimbledon 

 Common, S.W. ; were elected Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe exhibited specimens of the very rare ant Fornir- 

 coxenus nitidulus, $ , found in a nest of Formica rvfa at Weybridge during the 

 present month. Mr. A. J. Chitty said he had taken a single $ of the species 

 in the Blean Woods, Kent, and the Rev. F. D. Morice reported it common in 

 Switzerland, where he had taken examples of all three sexes abundantly. Mr. 

 Q-. C. Champion showed a specimen of Platypsylla castoris, Ritsema, a Coleop- 

 terous parasite of the beaver, from France, and suggested that perhaps it might be 

 found on the beavers in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in London. Mr. 

 W. Gr, Sheldon, several specimens of a Noetua, which he said corresponded to 

 Dr. H. Guard Knaggs' original description of Ayrotis helvetina (Entomologist's An- 

 nual, 1872, p. 115). He had purchased them at the sale of the late Dr. Mason's col- 

 lection, in which they were labelled as light varieties of Noctua avgur, to which 

 species he thought in fact that they should be referred. Mr. A. H. Jones, examples 

 of butterflies taken by him last year in Majorca, showing injury to the wings, 

 caused, in his opinion, by the attacks of lizards. The Rev. F. D. Morice gave an 

 account of the calcaria observed on the legs of some Hymenoptera. They were, he 

 said, quite constant in each species, and useful, therefore, as distinguishing charac- 

 ters ; the only Hymenopteron he had come across without them being the ordinary 

 hive-bee. Kirby and Spence considered that they were used for clinging purposes, 

 but this was unlikely, as the spurs occurred in species which did not cling at all. 

 So far as he had noticed they were used by members of this Order for the purpose 

 of cleaning their antennae. Mr. C. O. Waterhouse said that similar spurs existed 

 in the Trichoptera, though they did not assume beautiful forms as in the Hymenop- 

 tera ; but as to their uses, he was not aware that any observations had been 

 published or made on the subject. Mr. G. C. Champion remarked that they were 

 also well developed on the hind-legs of some Coleoptera of the family Melaudryidae. 

 — H. Rowland Brown, Hon. Secretary. 



