76 



APRIL 13th, 1905. 



The President in the Chair. 



Messrs. Harrison and Main exhibited larvae of Nemeophila 

 russula in their last stage : they had been bred from ova laid 

 by a female moth captured in Cheshire and were feeding on 

 dandelion. 



Mr. Cowham remarked that he had fed up a brood of this 

 species from which the imagines emerged in the autumn. 

 The larvae were kept in a close tin and continued feeding 

 without any pause, and the imagines resulting were of the 

 full average size. Mr. R. Adkin said that he had also fed up 

 a brood in the autumn, but the imagines he had bred were 

 all miserably small. 



Mr. Robert Adkin exhibited examples of series of Brcphos 

 notha, Notodonta chaonia, Pterostoma palpina, Acronycta aceris, 

 Eupithecia venosata, and E.pygmceata that had emerged during 

 1904 from 1902 pupae, thus having remained in the pupal 

 stage for a longer period than is generally considered usual, 

 and read a short paper on the subject (see p. 6). 



Mr. Manger exhibited a very large number of various 

 species of Echinodermata to illustrate his paper. 



Mr. H. Moore exhibited a specimen oiCystoccelia (Pneumora) 

 immaculata and read the following note : 



" I have lately received several small lots of insects from 

 my friend Mr. Guy Farren, of Durban, South Africa. 

 Amongst them are a few very interesting and curious speci- 

 mens, not the least being the species of Pneumora (Cystoccelia 

 immaculata) , peculiar to that portion of the world. Although 

 by no means an uncommon insect, it is of more than pass- 

 ing interest, and though belonging to a musical family 

 (Orthoptera), is perhaps the most instrumental of the lot. 

 The female is wingless, but in the male it will be noticed 

 that the wings are not only fully developed but that the 

 abdomen is distended like a bladder, hence the Boer name 

 ' Blazops ' and the colonial English 'the flying gooseberry,' 

 the latter appearing neither so absurd nor unsuitable, the 

 insect when alive being a clear grass green. Its greatest 

 interest lies in its 'remarkable modification,' for to use the 

 words of Darwin, ' the whole body has been converted into 

 a musical instrument,' and further, instead of rubbing its 

 thighs against the wing covers to produce its calls, they are 

 rubbed against a small notched ridge which projects obliquely 



