( cxxiii ) 



Mexico. The caterpillars of this Pierine butterfly live 

 gregariously in an opaque web of silk, which has an aperture 

 at the lower end. Pupation takes place in the cavity of the 

 nest, the pupae being suspended by the tail, as in the case 

 of Nymphalidae. The species and its nest were described by 

 Westwood in the Transactions of this Society in 1836, 

 and the first description of the larva was published in 1901 

 by Dyar in the Proc. Ent. See. Washington, iv, p. 420, 

 where the food-plant is stated to be a species of Arctosfaphylos. 

 The original nest was exhibited by Dr. Dixey some years ago 

 at a meeting of this Society. Encheira socialis is the only 

 butterfly whose larvae are known to make a nest in which 

 pupation takes place. (Cf. Trans. 1905, p. xix.) 



Col. Yerbury observed that Synchlo'e glauconome occasion- 

 ally pupates within an envelope, though not of so elaborate a 

 construction. 



Papers. 



The following Papers were read : — 



" Notes on Various Central American Coleoptera, with 

 Descriptions of New Genera and Species," by G. C. Champion, 

 A.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



"The Butterflies of the White Nile, a Study in Geo- 

 graphical Distribution," by G. B. Longstaff, M.A. , M.D., 

 F.E.S. 



A considerable discussion took place on the subject of Dr. 

 Longstaff's paper. Col. Yerbury observed that the Desert 

 Region really extended from Cape Verd to Delhi, and 

 that its insect fauna was much more closely connected with 

 its flora than with its vertebrate fauna. Many of the Pierines, 

 whose larvae fed on desert species of Capjxtris, were, as Dr. 

 Longstaff had found on the White Nile, abundant where they 

 occurred, but their distribution was patchy. He also observed 

 that the desert fauna was not drawn from one region only, 

 but from all those that suiTounded it, and that all became 

 modified on settling in the Desert Region. 



The Hon. W. Rothschild said that he had lately been 

 working through a large collection of desert insects, and that 

 he could thoroughly endorse Col. Yerbury's observation that 



