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SEPTEMBER 26th, 1889. 

 T. R. BiLLUPS, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Tugwell exhibited Peronia hastiana, L., vars. ; bred 

 during August, 1889, from larva collected at Braemar, Aber- 

 deenshire, showing considerable variation ; the form with 

 almost black superior wings, with broad white or cream- 

 coloured central dash, or vitta (and in a few cases bordered 

 with red), was largely represented, 50 per cent, being bred 

 of this type. 



Mr. R. Adkin exhibited a series of Hypermecia augiistana, 

 Hb., bred from larvae found feeding in shoots of sallow col- 

 lected in Co. Derry, Ireland. The specimens showed con- 

 siderable variation, some having the ground colour of the 

 primaries silvery and the usual reddish brown central fascia 

 and costal patch intensified ; while in others the colour of these 

 markings was almost entirely replaced by dull grey. 



Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited chrysalides of Pieris napi, L., 

 to show that although their colour was very much affected by 

 the environment of the caterpillar at the time of their meta- 

 morphosis, yet in no way did their colour approximate to that 

 of their surroundings. They were all the produce of one 

 female of the species ; those that had changed to chrysalides 

 in an ordinary breeding cage with perforated zinc sides were 

 of a dull cream colour with black spots, and those that had 

 metamorphosed in a tinned gentle-box, with the usual per- 

 forations at the top, were of a beautiful apple green with 

 black spots. They had all been reared from the egg and fed 

 up in the breeding cage ; and those that had become 

 chrysalides in the gentle-box had been placed there a few 

 days before they changed. 



Mr. Carrington remarked that in the gentle-box there 

 would be an absence of light, while in the breeding cage there 

 would be considerable light ; in might, therefore, be that the 

 brightness of the surroundings would be more favourable to 

 the bright colour of the pupa in the breeding cage. Another 

 question was, how much individual control or will power there 

 was to cause these changes ? When at the Aquarium at West- 

 minster, he had observed that if flat fish sent from the coast with 

 very bright spots upon them, were placed in a tank with a clean 



