144 



the darkest specimen had light, and the lightest specimen 

 dark antennae. 



Mr, Tutt mentioned that Mr. Ovington had once reared 

 seventy caia, two of which were nearly black, five yellow, 

 some remarkably pale, and others showing perfect gradation 

 in colour from light to dark. 



Mr. R. Adkin exhibited a specimen of Sesia scolicBformis, 

 Bork., being one of two bred during the past summer from 

 larvae taken at Rannoch. He said that although the imago 

 appeared to be exceedingly rare, it could hardly be said that 

 the larvae were so, a fair number having been found ; but 

 they were invariably feeding in the hard stems of the birch 

 trees, and as a consequence it was a difficult matter to remove 

 them without injury ; in addition to which they appeared to 

 be unusually liable to the attacks of ichneumons, many more 

 of the latter being bred than of the moth. Like others of the 

 Sesiidae, they pass two or more years in the larval state. 



Mr. Tugwell expressed an opinion that the specimen was 

 smaller than those obtained from Llangollen ; he also thought 

 that the male could be got by " assembling," a method of 

 collecting the Sesiidae which he knew to work well with 6". 

 sphegiformis, Fb., and 6". culicifonnis, L. 



Mr. Carrington said that Mr. Nicholas Cooke was the first 

 to notice that the holes in the birch trees were caused by this 

 species ; he had been at Rannoch when Mr. Cooke's son was 

 taking the species. It was necessary to get on to the ground 

 before daylight, and then watch the trees most carefully to see 

 the moth emerge ; if it was not boxed before the wings were 

 dry it would fly away. It was an excessively laborious business, 

 as the species occurred at the very height of the season when 

 sugaring was exceedingly late, and the only collecting time 

 was the short period while the moths were drying their wings. 



Mr. Adkin, in reply to Mr. C. G. Barrett, said that the larva 

 was not in the solid wood, but in the thick bark of old trees 

 at some three or four feet from the ground. 



Mr. R. Adkin also exhibited a specimen of EucJdbe carda- 

 mines^ L. ? , taken near Hayward's Heath, Sussex, having a 

 distinct black V-shaped mark on the disc of the wing, below 

 the discoidal spot, on the underside of the primaries. 



Mr. C. G. Barrett remarked that this form of variation was 

 very interesting, as it occurred in various species ; in the 

 species of Oporabia it was of frequent occurrence, and in 

 Setina irrorella, Clerck, an IVI-variety was occasionally met 

 with. The V mark was usually caused by the suffusion of 

 black scales on the fork of the median nervure. 



