129 



America.' One of the ants was infested with a small bright red 

 tick, which still awaits identification. Several of the ants were 

 injured in transit through the post, and all died within a few 

 days." 



Mr. E. Step exhibited abnormal catkins of hazel {Conjhia avel- 

 lana) gathered from a bush on Mickleham Downs. The abnor- 

 mality consisted in the male catkins having lost their cylindrical 

 form and become more or less globose or pear-shaped. In some 

 examples the upper part of the catkin bad become brown and 

 withered. The entire bush, which was apparently in a sickly con- 

 dition, produced catkins of this type, there being no healthy ones 

 present. This condition was correlated with the presence of " Big 

 Bud ; " and he thought it was very probable that it might be due to 

 the same cause — the attack of the gall-mite, ErinpJu/e.s coryli. The 

 discovery of these catkins had naturally led him to examine many 

 other hazels; but in only one other case during a walk of five or 

 six miles did he meet with similar examples. This was on an 

 apparently healthy tree, whose catkins on the whole were normal, 

 but a fractional percentage were abnormal, and these were borne 

 upon twigs that also suffered from " Big Bud." He thought it 

 probable that a microscopical examination would reveal the 

 presence of the mites between the bracts of the catkins. 



Mr. T. W. Hall exhibited a gynandromorphous specimen of 

 Aiiriades coridon, showing slightly dissimilar forewings. The right 

 forewing had patches of blue scaling, which on examination by Dr. 

 Cockayne proved to contain large numbers of androconial scales. 

 Otherwise the specimen was a typical female. 



Mr. W. J. Lucas sent a number of lantern slides illustrative of 

 British Land and Freshwater Mollusca, and Mr. Step made remarks 

 on the various species as they were shown on the screen. 



NOVEMBER 26th, 1914. 



Annual Exhibition of Varieties. 



The President in the Chair. 



Mr. Robert Adkin exhibited long series of A<iriades thetis { = 

 LyciBua bellan/us) chiefly from the Sussex South Downs and the 

 Kent and Surrey North Downs. Among the males there were 

 specimens having a row of distinct black spots within the margin 

 of the hindwings," examples of the so-called " green " form and 



