( cxxii ) 



of a remarkable Mantid ootheca from Delagoa Bay that had 

 been described by the late Mr, Shelford and figured in 

 part iv of the Society's Transactions for 1909, from speci- 

 mens from the Pascoe collection and now in the Oxford 

 University Museum. Mr. Shelford appeared to have over- 

 looked the fact that these same specimens had been exhibited 

 by the late Mr. Pascoe at the Society's meeting on Decem- 

 ber 5th, 1883, and that they are figured in the Journal of 

 Proceedings of that date (p. xxxv). On that occasion the 

 late Prof. Wood-Mason expressed doubt as to their being 

 Mantid egg-cases, and it was also suggested that the bladder- 

 like outer covering was a protection against attacks of pai'asitic 

 insects. The interest of the present exhibit was in the 

 definite settlement of both these points of doubt, for these 

 specimens were received in closed boxes, and during transit 

 many of the eggs had hatched and the young larval Mantids 

 were found dead in the boxes. In other cases the eggs had 

 produced Chalcids, which Mr. C. Morley believes to be an 

 undescribed species of the genus Fodagrion, having an ovi- 

 positor of sufficient length to reach the eggs from the outer 

 covering of the ootheca. 



Those obthecae from which the young had emerged had 

 irregular, jagged-edged apertures having the appearance of 

 being made by gnawing or rasping, as Mr. Shelford suggested, 

 as a means of escaping from the tough, parchment-like 

 envelope. 



Mr. G. A. K. i\Iarshall observed that he had seen i\Iantid 

 obthecae being formed entirely by the abdomen of the $ 

 without aid from the legs ; they were amorphous when first 

 formed, and had a frothy appearance. The larvae on emerging 

 drop by a thread to the ground. 



Aberrations of Colias edusa. — Mr. E. C. Joy exhibited 

 two aberrant specimens of C. edusa, bred in October last from 

 Folkestone ; the discoidal spot in the forewings of the male 

 being orange instead of black ; in the female specimen the 

 black outer marginal border of the forewings is very deep, 

 and entirely without the usual yellow spots. 



Remarkable Larval Nests. — Dr. K. Jordan exhibited two 

 nests of Eucheira socialis recently^ received from Western 



