7374 Entomological Society. 



Mr. Shepherd exhibited a fine dark variely of Hemerophila abriiptaria, taken near 

 Loudon. 



Mr. Bond exhibited some fine varieties of Dictyojiteryx uliginosana and Gelechia 

 siibdecurtella from the Cambridgeshire feus; also a fine series of Gracillaria sligma- 

 telLi, one example being nearly pure white. 



Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited an example of Setodes interrupta of Fabricius («on 

 Ste])hens), taken near Taunton by Mr. Parfitt, in 1859 ; and remarked that this phry- 

 ganidous insect may be considered as new to Britain, for althouf^h Fabricius, in 1792, 

 indicated it as occurring in England, no one appears to have rediscovered it until now. 



The Rev. H. A. Pickard exhibited a specimen of Gonepteryx Rhaiuni, var. 

 Cleopatra, taken by John Fellerton, Esq., at Thyrbergh Park, near Rotherham, on the 

 27th of June, I860, being the first recorded British example of this beautiful variety. 



Mr. Scott exhibited some specimens of Mycetophagus 4-guttalus, Muller. The 

 species had been lately found in decaying pea-haulm, by Mr. Douglas and himself. 

 In all about tifty specimens had been secured. 



Dr. Knaggs exhibited some eggs of Geometridae from which hymenopterous para- 

 sites had emerged. 



Mr. Westwood pronounced these parasites to be Platygaster Ovulorum. 



Mr. Gorham exhibited examples of Micropeplus staphylinoides, Marsham, and M. 

 Margarilse, Duval, and made the following remarks : — " I believe under the specific 

 name of staphylinoides two species of Micropeplus have been generally mixed in Bri- 

 tish collections ; they are the true M. staphylinoides of Marsham, and M. Margaritae of 

 Duval. I have iherelore attempted to point out the characters by which these species 

 may be separated. In M. staphylinoides the elytra are scarcely a third longer than 

 the thorax ; their sides are parallel, and the fourth segment of the abdomen is armed 

 with an acute prominent crest: in M. Margaritae the elytra are longer, being nearly 

 half as long again as the thorax, their sides rounded, and the disk more convex than 

 in M. staphylinoides ; the fourth segment of the abdomen with a small and not con- 

 spicuous tubercle. I also beg to call attention to the sexual characters which M. 

 Duval has pointed out, but which appear to have escaped the notice of former authors, 

 viz., the existence of a tooth on the tibiae of the male. In M. staphylinoides the head 

 of the male is produced into a tooth in front; that of the female is rounded : in M. 

 Margaritae the head of the male is more acutely toothed ; that of the female rounded. 

 In this respect they may both be separated from the nearly-allied species, M. longi- 

 pennis, Kraaiz (M. staphylinoides, Ktz., olim, nee Marsh.), which has the head 

 rounded in front in both sexes." • 



Mr. Ellerton exhibited some pupa-cases of Cerura vinula, showing the thin mem- 

 branous lining alluded to at the last Meeting of the Society (Zool. 7335). 



Mr. Westwood remarked that these delicate white pellicles, seen attached to the 

 inner surface of the cast skins of lepidopterous pupae, were probably identical with the 

 skin said by Mr. Curtis to be cast by the death's-head moth after assuming the perfect 

 state. A more careful examination of these pellicles was, however, necessary, as the 

 question really was whether the Lepidoptera on emerging from the pupa cast one or 

 two envelopes, — whether, like the Ephemerae, they were enveloped in two distinct 

 skins, as indeed the statement of Mr. Curtis implied, thus partially resembling the 

 coarctate Diptera, in which, however, the outer skin of the pupa is only the hardened 

 ultimate skin of the larva ; or whether the limbs of Lepidoptera are not respectively 



