148 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



SOCIETIES. 



Entomological Society of London. — March l%th, 1902. — Dr. F. 

 DuCane Godman, D.C.L., P.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — 

 Mr. Benaiah W. Adkin, of Brandon House, Morden Hill, Lewisham; 

 Mr. E. D. Bostock, of Texall Lodi^e, Stafford; Mr. Hubert Edelstein, 

 of the Elms, Forty Hill, Enfield, Middlesex; Capt. Frederick W. 

 Hutton, F.R.S., of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurcli, New Zea- 

 land ; Mr. Frederick William Lambart Sladen, of Ripple Court, 

 Ringwould, Dover ; and Mr. Gerard Orby Sloper, of Westrop House, 

 Highworth, Wiltshire, were elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. W. J. 

 Kaye exhibited a number of insects from British Guiana, many of 

 them taken by himself, illustrative of Miillerian mimicry. Dr. DuCane 

 Godman remarked that in these regions many different forms of the 

 same butterfly would often occur within a radius of fifty miles, showing 

 a wide range of variation. — Professor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., exhibited 

 cocoons of Malacosoma vcmtria, collected by Mr. Hamm in 1900, spun 

 upon black currant and apple trees in his garden at Oxford. All of 

 them had been attacked by birds through the leaf, this being the 

 thinnest part of the cocoon, and the pupa thus more easily abstracted. 

 With regard to the resting habit of Hyhemia leucophearia, he said that 

 he had observed that this moth usually rested in a horizontal position. 

 Dr. Lougstaffe said that all the specimens he had observed on green 

 stems affected a similar position, and that he had only found one on a 

 birch tree. Mr. M. Jacoby said that he never found the species on 

 oak at all, but on palings, also in the same position, which facts 

 Professor Poulton said tended to show that the protective instinct of 

 the species was retained in such localities. — Mr, G. T, Porritt exhibited 

 two bred black Larentia multistrigaria from Huddersfield, and said that 

 the dark form was rapidly increasing in Yorkshire. Of those already 

 emerged and reared from the same brood, three were normal and two 

 dark. — Dr. Frederick A. Dixey read a paper, illustrated by lantern 

 slides, entitled :—" Notes on some cases of Seasonal Dimorphism in 

 Butterflies, with an account of Experiments made by Mr. Guy A. K. 

 Marshall." He said that he had long since formed the opinion that 

 CaUypsilia crocale, Cram., was specifically identical with C.pomona, Fabr., 

 and had suspected that the differences between them might prove to 

 be seasonal in character. The belief in their specific identity was 

 held by Piepers and by De Niceville, neither of whom, however, 

 thought that the dimorphism thus shown had any relation to the 

 seasons. In the discussion which followed, Colonel Yerbury said that 

 a temporary rainfall in a dry season in dry places had a marvellous 

 effect in producing intermediate and wet- season forms. Mr. F. Merri- 

 field pointed out the difference between experiments upon tropical 

 and European species. In the tropics there are not any very great 

 distinctions of seasons and temperature, whereas in temperate climates 

 the seasons are clearly marked off from one another. Professor E. B. 

 Poulton expressed his opinion that by breeding species through, Mr. 

 Marshall had proved that one form gives rise directly to the other ; 

 the pairing of the two forms being a biological test of very con- 

 siderable value. Colonel Swinhoe, Dr. Jordan, and Dr. F. DuCane 



