( xvi ) 



" 2. An ancestral Sphinx larva from Celebes. — This probably 

 mature larva, brought by Dr. Hickson, was exhibited, and 

 shown to possess a pair of terrifying eye-like marks and the 

 correlated body-form of < 'hcerocampa : the whitish oblique 

 stripes with borders of darkened ground-colour, traces of 

 subdorsal, and of shagreening, of Smerinihus and the younger 

 stages of Sphinx; the curved caudal horn of the latter genus, 

 which, however, was far more shagreened than the rest of the 

 body, as in Acherontia. The ground-colour had been green. 



" 3. The attitude of Geometer larva. — It was shown that the 

 spiral attitude upon leaves is assumed by the young larvse of 

 11. cratcegata and 8. lunaria ; that the supporting thread is 

 dispensed with in A. betularia, the larva merely holding a 

 twig or leaf in the clasp of its thoracic legs ; and that the line 

 of contact between certain Geometer larva? and the twig to 

 which they are holding by the claspers is softened by the 

 presence of a fringe of light-coloured lobes, thus preventing 

 the deep shadow which would otherwise be conspicuous 

 (strongly confirming this interpretation of the use of similar 

 structures in other larva? originally suggested by Prof. Mel- 

 dola). The exact resemblance of the larva of B. cratcegata 

 to the special peculiarities of its chief food-plant — hawthorn — 

 was pointed out, and it was suggested that such a close 

 identity in appearance must have been the result of a great 

 length of time — that the hawthorn is the ancestral food-plant. 



"4. Defensive structures of the larva of l>. vinula. — It was 

 shown that the prothoracic gland secreting formic acid can be 

 everted by pressure, and that it consists of four (not six, as 

 Mr. Poulton stated last year) tubes and a central sac. The 

 larva in ejecting the secretion seems to be entirely guided as 

 to direction by the tactile sense. The fiagella of the same 

 species were described and figured, showing their retractor 

 muscles togetber with a large ganglion which occupies the 

 axis of the organ. 



" 5. Additional eversible glands. — Prothoracic glands were 

 described in many larvae, and they were shown to be bilid in 

 Pieris rapce, thus leading towards the more complicated organs 

 of Dicranura. A dorsal gland upon each of the 6th and 7th 

 abdominal segments was described as a character of the larva' 



