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A large party then visited the quarries, under the guidance of Mr. Arthur 
Thompson, Secretary to Woolhope Club, and gathered many fossils. A smaller 
party, under the guidance of Dr. Chapman, extended their walk to a greater 
distance, and within sight of the old landslip at The Wonder, and had a more 
complete view of this most interesting valley. All assembled at the Foley Arms 
Inn, Tarrington, to Dinner. After dinner, Dr. Wood read a paper on some 
peculiar Lepidoptera, but the Members of the Dudley Club had to leave befor 
the paper was read. : 
ON THE CLEAR WING SPHINGES OCCURRING IN THE WOOL- 
HOPE DISTRICT.—BY DR. J. H. WOOD. 
Gentlemen,—Having been asked by our President to read a paper to the 
‘Club, I thought I could not do better than put together a few notes on a small 
group of Lepidopterous insects—very curious in themselves—which happen to be 
well represented in this neighbourhood, for out of the fourteen British species 
nine occur here. The scientific name of the insects is Sesia, but they are also 
commonly known as Clearwings. They are strange-looking moths, with their 
‘transparent wings and banded bodies, and look much more like wasps and ich- . 
neumons, andit is perhaps for this reason they are so seldom seen in the perfect state, 
being commonly mistaken for the latter insects. In one species at least, viz., 
Bembeciformis, this likeness is carried out even in the habits of the insect ; for 
when settled on an object it keeps raising and depressing its body as wasps will 
do, and when it flies it distinctly buzzes. And to see, as I have done, one of these 
moths the size of a large wasp, with its yellow belted body, sitting on a wall in 
the sunshine, raising and depressing its abdomen, and presently taking wing, 
flying in a slow heavy manner and buzzing loudly all the while, you may well 
imagine there would be a moment’s hesitation in handling so uncanny-looking a 
thing, even though you knew it were no better than a make-believe, like the 
donkey in the fable under the lion’s skin, This case of Bembeciformis is an 
excellent instance of what is known as mimicry. Then again the larve of the 
Clearwings are all internal feeders living inside the roots and stems of different 
trees and plants, hidden away from the light, and they are for the most part very 
maggot-like in appearance—further points in which their resemblance to the 
Hymenoptera is borne out. It isno doubt in this stage of growth—I mean the 
larval—that the real origin and cause of the likeness is to be sought; but whether 
that cause depends on a similarity of surrounding circumstances, or on some 
anatomical ground, it is impossible to say. Yet as bearing on this question I 
should like to turn for a moment to the vegetable world, to point out how apparently 
the shape of a leaf will determine the growth and development of a plant. We 
all know the ivy ; that it is a plant unable to support itself, that it has great 
