SOCIETIES. 151 



(London). Mr. A. H. Lister, of Bootle, was unanimously elected a 

 member of the Society, after whicli, on the motion of Dr. Cotton 

 (St. Helen's), seconded by Mr. J. R. le B, Tomlin (Chester), it was 

 decided to hold a summer gathering in Delamere Forest on June 13th. 

 The paper of the evening was contributed by Dr. Edmund Capper, of 

 Leicester, son of the veteran President, who dealt in a most interesting 

 manner with "the story of Acidalla cantiijuaria,'' oi which desirable 

 lepidopteron he had probably captured more specimens, in its natural 

 habitat on and in the neighbourhood of Moel Llys, than any other 

 entomologist. Dr. Capper's paper, which traced the first occurrence 

 of A. contiffuaria to the late Mr. Richard Weaver in 1855 to its distri- 

 bution at the present day, also dealt with many important facts in the 

 life-history of the species. The paper was discussed by Mr. S. J. 

 Capper, Dr. J. Ellis, and Messrs. Pierce and Tait, the latter of whom 

 confirmed the lecturer's premise that only one brood was produced 

 during the year. A hearty vote of thanks having been accorded Dr. 

 Capper, the following exhibits were made : — Noctua fiainmatra, Xyllna 

 cnnfonnis, Leucania extianea, and other rare British Noctuidae, by Mr. 

 F. N. Pierce (Liverpool) ; long series of the light and dark forms of A. 

 contiguaria from Penmaenmawr, by Mr. R. Tait, junr. (Manchester) ; 

 Thanasimus fonnicarius, new to the local list, by Mr. Guy Dunlop 

 (Mossley Hill) ; embryo nest of Vespa gennanica from beehive, by Mr. 

 F. Birch (Liverpool) ; a fine series of Odontopera bidentata, varying 

 from black to very pale brown, and including one semi-diaphanous 

 specimen, by Mr. B. H. Crabtree (Manchester), and a fine example of 

 (Edipoda carulescens, of which two specimens have been taken at South- 

 ampton, by Mr. E. J. B. Sopp (Birkdale), Hon. Secretary. 



Birmingham Entomological Society. — February IQth, 1903. — 

 Annual Meeting. — Mr. G. T. Bethune-Balcer, Vice-President, in the 

 chair. The annual reports of Council and of the Treasurer, kc, were 

 received. The following were elected to be Officers and Council for 

 the ensuing year : — President, Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker ; Vice- 

 President, Mr. R. C. Bradley ; Treasurer, Mr. R. C. Bradley ; Libra- 

 rian, Mr. A. H. Martineau ; Hon. Secretary, Mr. Colbran J. Wain- 

 wright; Members of Council, Messrs. H. Willoughby Ellis, J. T. 

 Fountain, A. D. Imms, and G. W. Wynn. The following were 

 exhibited : — By Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker, the remarkable Lycaenid 

 Liphyra brassolis, Hew., in various stages ; larvie in spirit, pupa and 

 imagines. He gave an account of its remarkable life-history as far as 

 it has been discovered by Mr. Dod. He also showed imagines of three 

 ♦species of Ogyris, which are also ant-feeding Lycsenids, but about 

 which less is known at present. — Mr. H. Willoughby Ellis, two drawers 

 of Carabidse, including the Anisodactylina, Pterostichina, and Har- 

 palina, which were shown partly to illustrate his new method of 

 carding every specimen separately for greater convenience in examina- 

 tion. — Mr. A. H. Martineau, pupae of a wasp from Mexico with a big 

 fungus — Cordiceps sp. ? — growing out of the thorax. It grows out be- 

 tween the prothorax and mesothorax, splitting the latter. It was 

 remarked as curious that the insect should have successfully reached 

 the pupal stage in each case. — Colbran J. Wainwright, Hon. Sec. 



