( Ixxviii ) 



Wednesday, October 17th, 1906. 



Mr. F. Meerifield, President, in the Chair. 

 Exhibitions. 



Mr. H. St. J. Donisthoepe showed living examples of the 

 beetle Monyonchus j)set(,dacori, and seed capsules of Iris fmti- 

 dissima which contained more specimens, found at Niton, Isle 

 of Wight, where the species occurs in numbers. 



Mr. A. H. Jones exhibited a species of Pieris napi, var. 

 hryonix, Argynnis thore, Erehia glacialis, ab. phifo, a small 

 form of Lycxna avion from Arosa, Switzerland, at 6000 ft. ; a 

 variety of Melanargia galatea in which the dark patch on the 

 under-side of the hind-wings was much enlarged, and two 

 varieties of Argynnis niobe $ , one very pale, the other of a 

 bluish copper colour taken on the Spliigen Pass in July last : 

 also specimens from other localities for comparison. 



Mr. W. J. Kaye exhibited a fine example of the remarkable 

 moth Dracenta rusina, Druce, from Trinidad. The species 

 bears a wonderful resemblance to a decayed dead leaf, the 

 patches on the wings also suggesting the work of some leaf- 

 mining insect. The margins of the wings were so deeply 

 indented as to make it appear that the specimen was greatly 

 damaged. The species was originally described by Druce from 

 Guatemala in the "Biol. Cent. Am. Heterocera," p. 188, and 

 was figured on Plate IX, fig. 9. There it was placed in the 

 Siculodidse, a small family created to include a few allied 

 species, but was put into the Thyrididfe by Hampson, the family 

 embracing the Siculodidse. On imaginal characters the insect 

 was undoubtedly a Thyridid, although in general appearance 

 wholly different from the two European Thyridids. The 

 specimen exhibited, and also figured for the Society (Plate 

 XXXII), had been found at rest on the ground. But it was 

 probably a night flyer as the exhibitor had taken one or two 

 other related species in British Guiana at night. 



Mr. E. M. Dadd showed a number of Noctuids common to 

 the British Isles and Germany, and read the following 

 observations on the insular racial characters of some British 

 Lepidoptera as compared with the predominant form occurring 

 on the continent of Europe. 



