52 



Mr. C. Fenn said he had at difTerent times taken a good 

 many of this species, and could confirm what Mr. Adkin had 

 said ; he had always seen the greatest numbers in very rough 

 fields, with but little clover growing in them ; it also swarmed 

 on railway-banks, but it was the custom to mow these once 

 a year. He was of opinion that the failure of the species to 

 maintain its holding in the country was rather due to the 

 unsuitable climate than to the eating of ova and young larvae 

 by cattle and sheep, as in the rough fields and many other 

 places sheep and cattle never went at all. Mr. Tugwell said 

 that in many cases edusa occurred very freely in clover fields, 

 and he gave an instance of having once met a man in a 

 clover field who had adopted the device of pinning half- 

 killed females of the species on the clover heads, and then 

 netting the males as they flitted around, and in this way the 

 man stated he had taken over fourteen dozen. Mr. J. Jenner 

 Weir also said he had seen and taken them plentifully on 

 one occasion in a clover field near Lewes, and did not see 

 a single specimen anywhere else. Mr. West of Greenwich 

 also made a statement to the same effect. Mr. Tutt said he 

 could see nothing whatever in Mr. McRae's suggestion, 

 because the eggs of many other species were laid where cattle 

 and sheep fed, and yet they did not disappear as edusa did ; 

 he considered the whole question was one of temperature, 

 and in 1887 the failure of the thousands oi edusa to reproduce 

 their species was due to climatic conditions ; the habit of 

 the species was to hybernate, as on the Continent, and they 

 failed in doing this in consequence of the cold, which killed 

 them. He did not believe that in ordinary years the females 

 attempted to deposit ova in the autumn ; but, if they survived 

 the winter, would do so in the spring. Mr. Frohawk con- 

 curred with Mr. Tutt in his views, and thought that the cause 

 given by Mr. McRae was totally inadequate to account for 

 the disappearance of the species ; even after the clover fields 

 were cut he had taken freshly emerged females, and as the 

 clover was then growing afresh there would be plenty of food 

 for the larvae ; in his experience of breeding the species he 

 had ascertained that the larvae would not feed during cold 

 weather ; it had also to be borne in mind that clover grew 

 on every piece of waste land. Mr. C. G. Barrett thought 

 there was a great deal of reason in what Mr. McRae had said, 

 because even though the clover grew after it was cut, it was 

 the invariable rule in this country to feed it down again in 

 the winter ; but an important element in the matter was the 

 enormous quantity of clover and the other food plants of the 



