Mr. Butler stated that he was disposed to accept Fritz Miiller's explanation 

 that it may be of use in the battles of the males. 



Mr. Bates remarked that in Prioneris the serrated costal margin exists 

 in" both sexes. 



The Secretary called the attention of the members to the approaching 

 International Entomological Exhibition to be held at the Royal Westminster 

 Aquarium in March. He also exhibited, on behalf of Capt. Elwes (who 

 was present as a visitor), a series of coloured illustrations of butterflies, 

 printed from nature by a new process invented by Dr. Sei'iziat, of Collioure 

 (Pyrenees Orientales), France. The inventor states that the "colouring 

 matter is fixed by means of a special adhesive and a press ; the bodies are 

 painted in water-colours after nature." 



Mr. G. C. Champion exhibited twelve species of the genus Cetoiiia, taken 

 by Mr. J. J. Walker, of H.M.S. ' Swiftsure,' at Besika Bay, Salonica, 

 Piraeus, and other Mediterranean localities. He also exhibited a specimen 

 oi Anthicus bimactdatus, a rare British beetle, taken near New Brighton by 

 Mr. J. T. Harris, of Burton-on-Trent. 



Mr. J. W. May exhibited a specimen of Carabus intricatus taken at 

 Fulham. 



Mr. H. Goss called attention to the occurrence of sexual dimorphism in 

 Erebia Medea, and exhibited specimens of both forms of the female. He 

 stated that he had obtained specimens of both forms nearly every year for 

 the last sixteen years from Silverdale, Lancashire, and that one form was 

 quite as common as the other. The principal difference between the two 

 forms consisted in the colouring of the discal band. In one form, which 

 Mr. Goss believed to be the typical form, the discal band was bluish ash- 

 colour, and in the second or diverging form it was ochreous-brown, or in some 

 specimens whitish ochreous. 



Papers read. 



Sir John Lubbock read a paper " On the Colouring of British Cater- 

 pillars." Starting from the principles laid down by Darwin, Wallace, and 

 others, that dull-coloured, green, and smooth-skinned caterpillars are eaten 

 by birds, &c., while spiny, hairy, and brightly-coloured species are rejected, 

 the author proceeded to show by a statistical method of tabulation that no 

 hairy caterpillars are green, while, on the other hand, a lai'ge majority of 

 black and brightly-coloured caterpillars are hairy. 



Mr. Jenner Weir expressed his warm approval of the method by which 

 Sir John Lubbock had treated the subject, and remarked that the results 

 obtained forcibly illustrated the antagonism between green coloration and 

 hairy protection. He further stated that during the past summer he had 

 seen the larvae of Enchelia Jacobea; in great profusion on Seuecio, which 

 plant had been completely stripped of its leaves over a large area of the 



