182 THE EXTOMOLOQIST. 



the last few years by himself, Mi*. A. H. Jones, and especially by Mr, 

 Tutt; E. rostida, which is a very distinct dwarf form, and from fre- 

 quenting marshy flats must live on lichens growing in such localities, 

 and not on stones as the others do ; E. irrorella, which should be the 

 rarest species in the Alps, judging by the comparatively few specimens 

 met with ; E. aurita, in very great variety, including a good many 

 specimens that are called knhlweini var. alpestns, none, however, 

 reaching the type of kuhlweim, but sufficient to show with something 

 approaching to certainty the question whether kuhUvdui is simply an 

 extreme form of aurita. E. aurita and E. irrorella, said Dr. Chapman, 

 are very near together, no point in their anatomy being absolutely 

 distinctive, while the genitalia are practically identical ; E. irrorella 

 always looks much slighter, being lighter scaled and the hairs short 

 and smooth. It always has a yellow patch on the mesothorax. The 

 venation is also distinctive, yet individuals of each species approach 

 each other completely in each of the distinctive items of the venation, 

 but never in all of them, so far as examination of a number of speci- 

 mens goes. The specimens exhibited consisted of twenty-four roscida 

 from two localities, twenty-two irrorella from eight localities, and two 

 hundred and four aurita from twenty-three localities. Except irrorella 

 from England, Finmark, and the Tyrol, and a few aiirita from the 

 Tyrol, all were from the Western Alps of Switzerland, Italy, and 

 France. Examples from each locality when sufficiently numerous 

 usually have a special facies. Some, as all those from Arolla, radiate ; 

 those from Bourg St. Maurice are without radiate forms ; and so on. 

 Some are more yellow ; others deeper orange ; some more mixed. 

 Elevation tends to produce radiation, but no other general conclusion 

 as to the effect of height, latitude, or longitude seems fully justified 

 by the specimens. — Mr. C. G. Barrett exhibited, for Mr. G. 0. Day, 

 of Knutsford, a black variety of Aplecta nehulosa, Tr., with white 

 cilia, and an asymmetrical female var. of Fidonia atomaria, Linn. — 

 Mr. M. Jacoby exhibited a specimen of an unknown species of the 

 Halticidas. — Mrs. Nicholl exhibited a collection of Rhopalocera from 

 the Lebanon district of Syria, and Mr. H. J. Elwes, on her behalf, 

 read a paper explaining and illustrating the several species included. 

 He said that Mrs. Nicholl's expedition had been both remarkable and 

 successful. The lepidopterous fauna of this region was less known 

 than that of other parts of Western Asia, and interesting inasmuch as 

 the mountains of high Lebanon contained a larger proportion of Alpine 

 species than might have been expected. Among other species Mr. 

 Elwes drew special attention to Thecla mi/rtale, which, since it was 

 described by Klug in 1832, has remained one of the least known 

 members of the palaearctic fauna. No examples, it appears, had been 

 taken in the interval until Mrs. Nicholl found it on the high mountains 

 not uncommon in May and June. /. asterope was taken in some 

 numbers on the coast, the species being the sole representative of its 

 family between Syria and Manchuria. The Nymphalidse also showed 

 a great range of variation. Sir John Llewellyn, Bart., made some 

 remarks on the character of the country through which Mrs. Nicholl 

 had travelled, and, in reply to Mr. Jacoby, Mrs. Nicholl said that insects 

 are not abundant generally, and the more productive spots are few and 

 far between. — The following papers were communicated : " A revision 



