67 



one cannot approach with hope of capturing them. However, 

 after the sun has left the rock, say half an hour or so, they 

 are quite dormant, and have to be pushed into the pill-boxes 

 or bottle of the collector, giving him an opportunity for 

 making a good bag. In the spring following the burning 

 the ling is the plant to show in the burnt places, growing up 

 in single plants with plenty of space between, and it is on 

 this new growth that the female deposits her eggs, which 

 are laid on the stems and leaves. When one is walking over 

 these patches now and again A . cordigcra will fly up, giving 

 the impression that they have been resting on the ground, 

 but that is not so. What they have been doing is ova- 

 depositing on the young ling. Sunshine seems indispensable 

 to A. cordigera, for without it they are powerless to fly." 



Mr. Robert Adkin exhibited an Anthrocera supposed to be 

 a hybrid between A . JilipendnlcB male and A. achillecB female, 

 together with examples of the two species for comparison. 



The history of the specimen was, he said, as follows: For 

 some five years past Mr. W. Renton had taken an Anthrocera 

 in a restricted locality in Argyllshire, which he had regarded 

 as a local form of A. pilosellce (purpumlis), but which has 

 recentl}' been identified as A. achillece. In the same locality 

 where this species occurs A. filipendulce also is found; and 

 he met with what appeared to be a female of the former 

 species paired with a male of the latter. From this pairing 

 some seventy ova were obtained, one half of which were kept 

 with a view to feeding up the resulting larvae in confinement, 

 and he succeeded in rearing two imagines from them ; the 

 other half were turned out in a spot where he had seen no 

 species of Anthrocera, and which appeared to be a suitable 

 place for the larvae to feed up. In the following June he care- 

 fully searched this place, and succeeded in finding one larva 

 only, from which he reared the specimen now exhibited. It 

 agrees very closely with the two bred in confinement, but 

 is, as might be expected, slightly larger than either of them ; 

 and there appears to be no doubt whatever as to the three 

 examples being members of the same brood. 



In general appearance the supposed hybrid tends towards 

 the characters of A . filipendidce, the size and position of its six 

 spots being practically as in that species, but the " texture " 

 of the wings resembles that of A. achillecs, while the dull, 

 though rather deep, pink colour of the spots and the hind 

 wings is unlike either of its parents. 



It was suggested that a microscopic examination of the 

 scales and of the genitalia might be made. 



