32 THK KN'l'OMOLOGIST. 



amongst the rats over the prize. The moths caught iu this way were 

 Sii>hinx convolviili, Nephele varietjata, Chcerocampa eson, and C. celerio. The 

 first-named is the most successful in escaping, owing to the long pro- 

 boscis which compels it to hover at some distance from the blossom. 

 .V. variet/ata is probably the swiftest flier, but is more conspicuous 

 owing to its dark colour. Bats were also very destructive of South- 

 African insect-life. 



December 3rd. — The President in the chair. — Mr. Philip J. Barraud, 

 Bushey Heath, Herts ; Mr. William E. Butler, Hayling House, Oxford 

 Road, Beading ; and Dr. Malcolm Cameron, R.N., H.M.S, 'Harrier,' 

 Mediterranean Station, were elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. H. 

 W. Andrews exhibited a male specimen of Therioplectes lurkhis, from 

 Chattenden, July, 1902. Females of this species have been taken at 

 Nethy Bridge, N.B., iu 1900, by Colonel Yerbury, but there appears to 

 be no record of the capture of the male. He also exhibited a male 

 PlatycJiints aticticus, and a female Microdon devias from Eltham and 

 Shoreham (Kent), respectively, and three small dark examples of 

 Syrphus balteatus, taken near Brock&ahurst, where the form was not 

 uncommon, in October, 1902. ^Mr. M. Burr exhibited two species of 

 Phi/llinm from Ceylon, sent by Mr. Green, P. biucaldtiun, Gray { = eru- 

 rifolmm,, Hann., and scythe, Grayj, and P. athain/sus, Westw. — Mr. A. 

 J. Chitty exhibited a box of insects, taken between Sept. 22nd and 

 Oct. 7th last, from a decayed fence or hedge made of different kinds 

 of wood, with the bark left on. The uprights of the hedge were chiefly 

 of birch. Tiie exhibit comprised about a hundred species, of which 

 seventy-nine or eighty were Coleoptera. Four species of beetles, viz. 

 two species of t'oijonocheroH, the scarce Microcephaliis cilbinns, and the 

 extremely rare Tropideres niveirostris, mimicked the surroundings of 

 lichen-covered bark, and one, Ac<dles tribatus, resembled buds. Of the 

 rest, there were five species of Dromius ; Anisoxya fuscula, 111,, Orchesia 

 minor, Clinocara telraiiiera, Tboms., and Tctiatoma ancora. A discussion 

 followed, in which the President, Professor E. B. Poulton, and others 

 took part. — ^Mr. R. Adkin exhibited a hybrid Selfuia bilunaria x S. 

 tetralwnaria, together with spring and summer examples of both 

 species for comparison. The hybrid presented some of the markings 

 of each of its parents, the crescentic blotch at the apex of the fore 

 wings, and the band on the hind wings, closely following tetndunaria, 

 but no trace of the dark spot usually so distinct on each of the wings 

 of that species, especially in the summer emergence, was visible, while 

 the " second line " of the fore wings closely followed bilunaria. In 

 colour it more nearly resembled that of the summer brood of tetra- 

 lunaria. — Mr. G. C. Champion read a paper on Nanophyes durieui. — 

 At a Special General Meeting, held the same evening, the proposed 

 amendments to the bye-laws were considered and adopted by resolution. 

 — H. Rowland Brown. Hon. Sec. 



