158 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Mr. 0. Salvin (on behalf of Mr. F. D. Godman) exhibited a pair of a 

 large and rare Butterfly, Ornithoptera victoria;, the male of which had been 

 hitherto undescribed. These specimens were obtained at the end of May, 

 1886, by Mr. C. M, Woodford, at North- West Bay, Maleita Island, one of 

 the Solomon group. 



Mr. E. B. Poulton read a paper containing an account of his e.xperiments 

 on the protective value of colour and markings in insects (especially in 

 Lepidopterous larvae) and their relation to Vertebrata. It was found that 

 conspicuous insects were nearly always refused by birds and lizards, but that 

 they were eaten in e.\treme hunger: hence the unpleasant taste failed as a 

 protection under these circumstances. Further, conspicuous and unpalatable 

 insects, although widely separated, tended to converge in colour and pattern, 

 being thus more easily seen and remembered by their enemies. In the 

 insects protected by resembling their surroundings it was observed that 

 mere size might prevent the attacks of small enemies. Some such insects 

 were unpalatable, but could not be distinguished from the others. In 

 tracing the inedibility through the stages, it was found that no inedible 

 imago was edible in the larval stage ; in this stage therefore the unpleasant 

 taste arose. 



Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper descriptive of the fishes collected by 

 the late Mr. Clarence Buckley in Ecuador. The set of all the species in 

 the collection acquired by the British Museum in 1880 contained a large 

 number of highly interesting and well-preserved specimens. Amongst 

 them were representatives of ten species described as new to Science. 



Mr. Richard S. Wray, B.Sc, read a note on a vestigial structure in the 

 adult Ostrich representing the distal phalanges of the third digit. 



Mr. John H. Ponsonby communicated (on behalf of Mr. Andrew 

 Garrett) the second and concluding part of a paper on the Terrestrial 

 Mollusks of the Viti or Fiji Islands. 



Mr. Edgar A. Smith gave an account of a small collection of shells from 

 the Loo-Choo Islands made by Mr. H. Pryer. 



March 15, 1887.— Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the chair. 



The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of February, and called attention to a 

 Burmeister's Cariama, Chunga burmeisieri, received in exchange Feb. Slth; 

 a White-fronted Heron, Ardea nova-zealandicE, from Australia, presented 

 by F. B. Dyas, Esq. ; a young specimen of a Black-winged Kite, Elanus 

 ccEvuleus, taken from the nest by Mr. R. Southey, of Southfield, Plumstead, 

 Cape of Good Hope, and received Feb. 28th ; and two Gloved Wallabies, 

 Haliiiaturus irma, received in exchange from the Zoological and Acclimati- 

 zation Society of Melbourne, Feb. 28th. 



