1886. ] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON XEMA SABINII. 81 
wing being forked beyond the middle. Ina paper in the ‘ Proceed- 
ings,’ for 1870, pp. 777-8, I recorded similar modifications of the first 
subcostal branch in the hind wings of Acrea andromacha, and in 
‘ Lepidoptera Exotica’ I described and figured modifications of the 
upper radial in the front wings of Morpho sulkowskyi (p. 113a, 
pl. xlii, figs. 1, la): the ease of A. hippia, however, is more inter- 
esting, as it exhibits, in a partial manner, a low type of venation in 
which two radial veins are present in place of one, and thus tends 
(so far as this character is concerned) to support Mr. Bates’s view of 
the affinity of the Papilionide to the Heterocera: it would be still 
more interesting if it could be shown that the Hesperiide showed a 
greater tendency to reproduce the same vein. 
The larva of A. hippia, judging froma nearly full-grown specimen 
preserved in spirit, presented by the Society to the Museum, has 
rather the aspect of some of the shorter-haired larvee of the Arctiide 
than of what one would expect in the caterpillar of a butterfly ; this, 
again, seems to point toa nearer relationship between the Papilionide 
and the Heterocera than one sees in the Nymphalide: the larva 
above referred to is of a dull flesh-colour, with lateral and dorsal 
series of conspicuous black spouts, the head, first dorsal segment, and 
anal claspers black *, the third, fourth, and twelfth segments clothed 
with dense rust-red hair down to the lateral series of black spots, 
the second segment (first dorsal) and head clothed with stiff, porrected, 
greyish hairs, and the remaining segments with pale testaceous hair : 
the pupa is either bright gamboge-yellow or cream-coloured, mottled 
and spotted with black, in some specimens differing in no respect 
from that of A. crategi in pattern, but frequently with the black 
markings united into bands and patches. 
February 2, 1886. 
Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 
Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks upon 
a skin of a Pheasant from the Persian borders of Transcaucasia, 
which appeared to be referable to the true Phasianus colchicus. 
Mr. C. A. Wright exhibited a specimen of a Dove from Malta, 
which seemed to be a semi-albino variety of Turtur auritus. 
Mr. Sclater exhibited, on behalf of Mr. W. H. Dobie, 22 Upper 
Northgate Street, Chester, a young specimen of Sabine’s Gull 
(Xema sabinii). Mr. Dobie stated that the bird had been shot at 
Mostyn on the coast of Flintshire, North Wales, in a field adjoining 
the shore, by Mr. John Williams, who watched it for some hours 
before he was able to obtain a shot. It was quite alone and did not 
* In a beautiful coloured drawing submitted to me by Mr. Thomson, the 
claspers are represented as flesh-tinted at the sides, a probable variation. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1886, No. VI. 6 
