37 



that day he was surprised to find great numbers of the Plusia 

 in his garden at Lewisham ; specimens continued to occur, 

 but in lesser abundance, until June loth, after which date 

 only one individual was noted. 



Mr, Jenner Weir delivered a Zoological Lecture, in 

 which he drew attention to some remarkable cases in which 

 mammalia and birds, having been in remote geological times 

 differentiated for one mode of life, had adopted entirely 

 different habits. Among the mammalia he instanced such 

 anomalous animals as the tree kangaroos of northern 

 AustraHa and New Guinea, the fisliing bat of Trinidad ; 

 and among birds, ground parrots, cuckoos and even wood- 

 peckers, tree ducks and non-aquatic geese. 



JUNE -zyd, 1892. 

 C. G. Barrett, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



Miss Jean Dalrymple was elected a member. 



Mr. F. W. Hawes exhibited boxes containing ova (dried), 

 larvae, and pupa, with imago of Hesperia lineola, Och., 

 and read a short paper describing the earlier stages of 

 the species. He stated that he had been able, from ova ob- 

 tained in August, i8go, to get larvae through their first moult, 

 and by means of others swept from grasses on the Essex 

 coast during June (1892) to obtain a pupa. In describing 

 the larva he referred to the fact that this species (and also 

 H. thaumas, Hufn.), passes the winter in the egg, emerging 

 as larva about April 20th, and feeding for about eight to ten 

 weeks in a deliberate fashion, chiefly at dusk, on Triticmn 

 maritiina and other coast grasses. In comparison with H. 

 thaumas, the full-grown larva was stated to be of a yellower 

 tint, softer and even velvety in appearance, but as in the case 

 of the perfect insect the resemblance between the two species, 

 especially in the final stage, was very close. The pupa 

 (similar to that of H. tkaitmas) was enclosed in a network 

 of silk spun among the blades of grass. 



Messrs. Hall, Croker, and Tugwell stated that they had 

 taken H. thaumas on the sea wall, together with H. lineola. 



Mr. Turner exhibited a short series of Stauropus fagi, L,, 

 bred from larvae taken in Epping Forest the previous autumn ; 

 also a very variable series of Thera variata, Schiff., bred from 

 larvae taken at Westerham during Easter. He also exhibited 

 the cocoons of the first-named species, and called attention 

 to the accurate reproduction of the veining of the leaf in all 

 its details on the surface of the cocoon. 



