SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 113 



Dr. Sharp exhibited some insects forwarded to him by Mr. Kidston, of 

 Stirling, collected by Mr. Alexander Carson on Kavalla, an island in Lake 

 Tanganyika; they were sent in spirit, and unfortunately were much 

 damaged in transit. The Coleoptera were nearly all well-known species, 

 exemplifying the fact that many of the commoner insects of tropical Africa 

 have wide distribution there, some of these species being common in Natal 

 and Senegal. The most remarkable of the insects received from Mr. Carson 

 was a large lepidopterous caterpillar, which Dr. Sharp had given to 

 Mr. Poulton ; it was covered with very thick sharp spines, all pointed except 

 the terminal one in the mesial line, which was furcate. 



Mr. Champion exhibited specimens of Casnonia olivieri, Buq., CEdi- 

 chirius unicolor, Aube, Paussus favieri, Fay-m., Colydium elongatum, Fab., 

 Endophlceus spinulosus, Latr., Hetmrius arachnoides, Fairm., Pseudotrechus 

 mutilatus, Rosenh., Singilis bicolor, Ramb., Phyllomorpha laciniata, Will., 

 all recently collected by Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., of H.M. ship ' Grappler,' 

 at Gibraltar, Tetuan, and Tangier. 



Mr. R. South exhibited a remarkable variety of Polyommatus Phlceas, 

 caught by him in North Devon in 1881. 



Mr. R. W. Lloyd exhibited a living specimen of a species of Ocnera 

 taken in London amongst merchandise imported from Ispahan. 



Mons. A. Wailly exhibited, and read notes on, a number of cocoons of 

 Anther aa assamensis, A. roylei, Actias selene, Attacus ricini, &o., lately 

 received from Assam ; also a number of nests of cocoons of Bombyx 

 rhadama, — the silk of which is used by the Hovas in the manufacture of 

 their stuffs called " Lambas," — from the island of St. Mary, Madagascar. 



Mr. H. J. Elwes read a paper on " the Butterflies of Sikkim," the 

 result of many years of collecting in that wonderfully rich district of the 

 Himalayas. He said he had been enabled to complete his observations 

 during the enforced delay at Darjeeling of Mr. Macaulay's Mission to 

 Tibet, of which he was a member. He stated the number of species 

 occurring in this small district to be about 530, which is greater than the 

 number hitherto found in any locality in the Old World. Of these the 

 greater part only occur in the hot valleys at an elevation of 1000 to 3000 

 feet, and these are for the most part of a purely Malayan character, whilst 

 those found in the middle zone are in many cases peculiar to the Himalayas ; 

 and the few species from the alpine parts of the country at 12,000 to 16,000 

 feet are of a European or North Asiatic type. An important feature in this 

 paper was the numerous observations taken on the habits, variation, seasons 

 of appearance, and range of altitude at which the various species occur, for 

 which Mr. Elwes said he was largely iudebted to Herr Otto Mdller, of 

 Darjeeling. The paper concluded with an analysis of the species and 

 genera as compared with those fouud in the North- West Himalayas and in 

 the Malay Peninsula. — H. Goss, Hon. Secretary. 



ZOOLOGIST. — MARCH, 1888. K 



