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shrubs, and are therefore easily experimented upon, as to whether 
the changes in food influence the colour or markings. So far as 
my own experiments, and I believe those of others are concerned, 
no difference whatever can be detected from the varieties of food, 
except in size. That long-continued changes of food through 
many generations might have a perceptible effect, is however 
more than probable. The type form of this moth is too well 
known to require description. I will therefore exhibit a drawer of 
specimens, having the type form in the centre, the various forms 
radiating from it in steps, in one line ending in white, another 
in black, another in which the white ground runs gradually into 
brown, and various other marked varieties. We may divide 
these into the following seven groups :—1. Variation. White, 
or the spots very few and distant: this leads up to the type 
form. 2. Spots joined together, forming curves and lines, 3. A 
variety of intermediate spots and patches. 4. The spots at the 
border becoming lines, and running towards the base of wings. 
5. Spots confluent, forming solid black patches over nearly 
the whole of wings. 6. The spots having the type form, but 
the white ground tinged with a smoky brown or drab colour, 
sometimes suffusing the whole ‘of the wings. 7. Spots of the 
type form, but the ground of wings bright yellow. From various 
experiments with many thousands of larve of this species, I have 
come to the conclusion that these variations are in a great 
measure hereditary, that one brood of eggs will produce moths 
of forms in a great measure identical, if the parents be of the 
ordinary type; if the eggs be the produce of moths of extreme 
colouring, varying much from the type, then, although the bulk 
of moths will be marked dark or light as the parents, there will 
be others of the ordinary type, and also some of the very opposite 
character of marking, precisely as in many florists’ flowers the 
seeds from those varying most from the original form are known 
to produce the most marked and opposite varieties. These ex- 
periments can only produce approximate results, unless a great 
number of years could be devoted to them, and in this and many 
others of our most variable species, it is almost impossible to rear 
them in confinement beyond the second generation. 
November 7.—Mr. Joseph Sidebotham exhibited a series of 
specimens of Limobius dissimilis, from Llandudno, on which the 
markings were very distinct and perfect; he discovered the 
species in considerable numbers beneath the flowers of Gera- 
nium sanguineum.—Mr. Spence: H. Bickham, jun., reported 
occurrence of Myosurus minimus, L., in plenty at Vale Royal, 
near Northwich, which species, he believed, had never 
previously been noticed in the neighbourhood. — Mr. 
Bickham then exhibited a series of specimens of /aoiy- 
eonum minus, Wuds, collected at Mere and the surround- 
ing district; he stated that he had searched for P. mite, 
Schrank, but without success, and believed with Mr. Hunt, that 
luxuriant specimens of P. minus had been mistaken for it: 
on the other hand he called attention to the fact that in 1859 
Mr. John Hardy, to whom Mr. Bailey had previously alluded, 
distributed specimens of P. mite from Mere, through the Thirsk 
Exchange Club, and on this authority Mr. J. G. Baker, the 
Curator, remarked in the report, ‘‘new to the Mersey Pro- 
vince.” Itseems doubtful also whether A/opecurus fulvus, re- 
ported from the same locality, has not been erroneously 
recorded, peculiar states of A. genicudatus having been mis- 
taken for it. As, however, it was found in considerable quantity 
at Oakmere in 1868, it appears probable that it may occur 
elsewhere in Cheshire. 
LEEDS 
Field Naturalists’ Club (Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
ciation), October 24.—The first meeting of the winter session 
took place this evening, Mr. Coates in thechair. In entomology, 
Mr. Liversedge exhibited specimens of Latyrus egeria, Argynnis 
selene, Anthrocharis cardamines, and Pamphila sylvanus, all 
collected in this neighbourhood.—Mr, Turner exhibited a variety 
of insects taken near Selby, including Cerura vinula, Triphena 
fimbria, Argynnis paphia, and Saturnia carpini. In oology, 
Mr. Coates brought the nest and egg of the ring ousel found at 
Ikley.—Mr. Beevers and Mr. Taylor were the principal exhi- 
bitors in the conchological branch, Mr. Beevers exhibiting U7io 
pictorum from Went Vale, Cyclostoma elegans, Thorparch, and 
Limmea palustris vax. corvus, Knaresbro.—Mr, Taylor exhibited 
Limnea glabra, Helix virvata var. submaritina, Planorbis corneus 
var. albina, and a small collection from Wisconsin, U.S. 
November 7.—Mr. W. Coates in the chair. 
NATORE 


Mr, Taylor read a 
[Dec. 1, 1870 
short paper describing a conchological visit to Boston Spa during 
the present month. Amongst the specimens taken were Cyc/o- 
stoma elegans, Helix lapicida, H. cantiana, and Pupa marginata, 
specimens of which species, and a number of others, were exhi- 
bited.—Mr. Wood brought for exhibition a fine collection of 
shells, illustrating the Pontefract district.—Mr. Roebuck exhi- 
bited several species of shells taken in the neighbourhood of 
Harrogate.—Mr. Scholefield exhibited the American mosquito 
and a fine specimen of Bombyx cynthia.—Mr. Denny brought 
for inspection a quantity of wheat infested by the wheat weevil, 
and a specimen of the death’s-head moth, 4. atropos.—Mr. Liver- 
sedge exhibited a number of insects taken in the immediate 
neighbourhood, including Zasiecampa quercus, Smerinthus popule, 
Nemeobius lucina, and Lycena alsus. The next meeting was to 
be held November 21st, when a paper was to be read by Mr. 
Acomb, ‘‘ On geology asa study.” 
NorwicH 
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, October 25. 
—The President, the Rey. J. Crompton, in the chair. A most 
elaborate and interesting paper was read by Mr. F. Kitton, 
**On Diatomacea and the lower forms of vegetable life as 
revealed by the microscope.” The lecture, for such it may 
more properly be termed, was illustrated by diagrams, showing 
some of the most familiar as well as most peculiar forms of 
Desmids and Diatoms ; and at the close Mr. Kitton exhibited a 
series of very beautiful photomicrographs, of similar objects, 
executed by Dr. Maddox. The Chairman, in offering to Mr. 
Kitton the thanks of the Society, and especially of the members 
present, for the time and labour he had devoted to their instruc- 
tion, alluled in complimentary terms to the high reputation he 
had already attained throughout the scientific world, by his per- 
severing researches in this particular branch of natural history ; 
his skill as a microscopist being equalled only by the extreme 
accuracy of his descriptions of the most intricate and minute 
organisms. At the request of the meeting Mr. Kitton consented 
to his paper being published 7 ex/enso in the Transactions of th 
Society. : 
EDINBURGH 
Royal Physical Society, November 23.—Prof. Duns in the 
chair. The retiring president, Professor Duns, delivered an 
address, in which he referred to the early history and past 
achievements of the Society. A hundred years} ago} eighteen 
students of nature banded themselves together for mutual profit 
in the pursuit of natural science, under the name of the Physical 
Society, Here is the first list of the ordinary members, Session 
1770-1771 :—William St. Clair, M.D. ; David Young, M.D. ; 
Thomas Melville, Thomas Smith, James French, James Wood, 
Robert Stewart, Alexander Muir, James Dick, Henry W. Tytler, 
Malcolm Macqueen, Arthur Taafe, Daniel Gibb, Thomas Thor- 
burn, James Webster, George Home, William Manuel, and 
William Keir. The names deserve to be brought out of the 
mists of 1770, and set before the Society in the light of 1870. 
The period was one well fitted to quicken young and ardent 
students, and to lead them to long to win their spurs in work 
closely kindred to that in which others were distinguishing them- 
selves. Eight years previously, Black had made public his 
theory of Latent Heat, and two years before he had been in- 
ducted to the Chemistry Chair in Edinburgh. The influences of 
the day were bearing in on Hutton’s mind, in which “The 
Theory of the Earth” was shaping itself into compactness and 
symmetry. Ray’s Syxopsis, Willoughby’s Ornithologia, Lister’s 
Mollusca, and Ellis’s Corallines, were before the public. But 
these dealt with British forms. Scotland was still in the rear. 
Nothing had been done to purpose for Scottish forms, except in 
the Scotia Z/lustrata of Sibbald, most, valuable at the time, no 
doubt, but also most suggestive of how much still remained to be 
accomplished. It was in such circumstances the Physical Society 
began, and more than ten years elapsed before the foundation of 
the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1788 the Physical obtained 
a Royal Charter, and assumed the name it now bears. Its meet- 
ings were held for many years in the Royal Physical Society 
| Hall, Richmond Court, a building which stood on a site now 
occupied by a chapel. From the outset its influence over work- 
ing naturalists was great and beneficial, and it ultimately ab- 
sorbed other kindred associations, which had been at different 
times set up in Edinburgh. The Chirurgo-Medical, its senior 
by a few years, joined it in 1788; the Hibernian Medical, in 
1799; the Chemical, in 1803; the Natural History, in 1812; 
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