23 



enemies the birds ; but this probably is not so, the breaking 

 up of the colour of the wings into bands and spots it seems 

 causes them to be far less conspicuous than if they were as 

 unicolorous as the males. I am led to believe that this is 

 the case, from the fact that so conspicuously coloured an 

 animal as the zebra is by no means easily seen in its native 

 haunts, as testified to by Mr. Francis Galton and Pro- 

 fessor Henry Drummond, the latter observing : * The black 

 and white somehow take away the sense of a solid body 

 altogether, and the two colours seem to blend into the most 

 inconspicuous grey. I have found myself in a forest gazing 

 at what I supposed to be a solitary zebra, its presence be- 

 trayed by some motion at my approach, and suddenly realized 

 that I was surrounded by an entire herd, which was all in- 

 visible till they moved.' If this was so in such a large 

 animal as a zebra, it becomes easy to understand how it might 

 be the case in an insect with an expanse of wings of about 

 four inches. 



" But it might be asked, how do you account for females of 

 C. cmiis and C. iheobene being inconspicuously coloured, the 

 reply is, that, judging from the habits of an allied species in 

 South Africa, viz., Cyniothoe alcinieda, which is stated to 

 frequent woods only, and is fond of settling on damp mud, 

 tlie dull, I might almost say, mud colour, of the two females 

 of the species in question, would bear a protective resemblance 

 to the prevailing hue of their environment." 



Mr. Austin of Folkestone exhibited an extremely rare form 

 of Lyccena bellargus, Rott., having the brilliant blue colour 

 entirely suffused with black scales, and another example 

 with beautiful markings on the upper surface : both specimens 

 were captured at Folkestone. Mr. Weir pointed out that the 

 first example partook somewhat of the colour of the female. 



Mr. Tutt exhibited a bred series of Hadena pisi^ L., vary- 

 ing from grey to a deep purplish red ; three specimens of 

 H. dissimilis, Knoch., one fairly marked with longitudinal 

 striations; three specimens oi Cerastis vaccinii, L., one having 

 the outer margin curved as in C. ligiila, 'Ks'p .,^spadicea, and 

 remarked that it was very rarely that this species varied in 

 the shape of the wings. 



Mr. R. Adkin exhibited smoky varieties of Nemeophila 

 plantaginis, L., from Sussex. 



Mr. Farren exhibited Peronea schalleriana, L., var. latifas- 

 ciana, Haw., and P. variegana, Schifif., var. cirrana, Curt, 

 from Scarborough, also Elachista siibocellea, St., from Cam- 

 bridge. 



