Zoological Society. 407 
qu'une Saturnide.”” The veins of the fore-wings are however ar- 
ranged as in the typical Saturnie; but the antenne are different, 
consisting of about thirty-six joints, bipectinated in both sexes with 
only thirty-four rays on each side, each joint except one or two at 
the apex emitting only a pair of rays, which are rather short. The 
palpi are distinct and turned upwards, extending rather further than 
the hairs of the face: the spiral tongue is distinct. 
Boisduval states that this species ‘‘ vole en plein jour. Une année, 
aux environs de Port Natal, on aurait pu en prendre par centaines en 
quelques heures. Deux ou trois jours aprés il n’existait plus. La fe- 
melle que nous est inconnue ne vole pas, peutétre méme est-elle aptére, 
et tous les males voltigeaient sans doute a sa recherche.”” The female 
is however winged and scarcely distinguishable from the male, as I 
have ascertained by extracting eggs from the abdomen of a specimen 
in the British Museum collection, which M. Boisduval would doubt- 
less have taken for a male. 
The structure of the antennz and presence of a spiral tongue, 
together with the fragile texture of the insect, will require a subgenus 
for its reception. 
May 22.—Harpur Gamble, Esq., M.D., in the Chair. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. DESCRIPTION OF SOME CORALS, INCLUDING A NEW BriTIsH 
CoRAL DISCOVERED BY W. MacAnprew, Esa. 
By J. E. Gray, Esea., F.R.S. etc. 
As yet only a single living species of recent stony coral has been 
recorded as inhabiting our coast. I am aware that M. Milne-Edwards 
and M. Haime have described the Torbay coral as belonging to two 
species and to different genera, viz. Desmophyllum Stokesvi, Aun. Sci. 
Nat. ix. 255. t. 7. f. 12, 12 a, and Cyathina Smithii, 1. c. ix. 288 ; but 
from the varieties in form, and especially in the contraction of the 
base, which I have seen in specimens on the same stone, I believe 
the genera and species have been established on very unessential cha- 
racters. 
I may state, that from the observations I have been able to make, I 
believe that the recent corals are very much more influenced by ex- 
ternal circumstances, by the rarity or the abundance of food that the 
animals are able to procure, and by the roughness or quietness of the 
water they happen to inhabit, and the stations they may accidentally 
occupy, than the describers of corals even the most recent are willing 
to allow. This greatly added to the difficulty of distinguishing the 
species ; and if this is the case with the recent corals which we receive 
in a good state, how much more difficult must it be to distinguish 
those only found in a fossil, and often in a worn and imperfect con- 
dition ! 
The British coral here noticed is perfectly distinct from the former, 
and from any European coral that has come under my examination ; 
and when I showed it to M. Milne-Edwards and M. Haime on their 
