( XXXV ) 



c/o Messrs. Cox & Co., 16 Charing Cross, London ; and ¥. H. 

 Gravely, The India Museum, Calcutta, were elected Fellows 

 of the Society. 



Obituary. 

 The death was amiounced of the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, 

 M.A., one of the oldest Fellows of the Society. 



Exhibitions. 



The Relation of Melanic Larvae to Melanic Imagines. 

 — Mr. C. B. Williams exhibited the larva, cocoon and male 

 and female adults of a dark olive-chocolate variety of 

 Lasiocampa quercus, and read the following note : — 



" In the spring of 1907, among several larvae of L. quercus 

 taken on the coast sandhills at Wallasey, Cheshire, I noticed 

 two much darker than the rest with the hauij almost black. 

 One of these was preserved, the other spun up on June 4, 

 making a very dark-coloured cocoon, and emerged on July 27 

 as a dark chocolate-coloured female ( ? var. olivacea-fasciata, 

 Tutt). An attempt to pair this with a normal male was not 

 successful. About the same time Dr. Bell of Wallasey ob- 

 tained other dark larvae, which however remained in the 

 pupa over the following winter and emerged in 1908 as the 

 dark form. He was fortunate enough to obtain a male and 

 a female on the same day, and from eggs laid after pairing only 

 dark larvae were produced [vide Proc. Lane, and Ches. Ent. 

 Soc, 1908, p. 15]. Unfortunately, on account of the sudden 

 illness of Dr. Bell none of these survived the winter. 



" In the spring of 1910 Mr. E. T. Eskrigge of Wallasey 

 obtained another dark larva from the same locality, and he 

 was kind enough to place it in my charge. It emerged in July 

 of that year as a dark male, but again I was unable to 

 obtain a pairing. 



" The result of the pairing obtained by Dr. Bell gives us 

 no definite clue as to the Mendelian relation of this variety, 

 but indicates a probability of its being recessive to the type 

 form. This is further supported by the fact that this form 

 has turned up occasionally from other localities (chiefly 

 Yorkshire), but does not seem to have permanently established 

 itself in any one locality. 



