62 



Mr. Barrett said that in the south the whole of the genus 

 were pupating about the end of May, but a little further 

 north they did not pupate until June ; as far as he knew, 

 they never appeared as a second brood, and it was curious 

 that they should lie through the whole heat of the summer 

 and not emerge till the following spring. He could not agree 

 that the moths taken from these opened pupa were fully 

 developed, and he doubted much whether they could be said 

 to be actually ready to emerge until they really did so. 



Mr. Billups said that Osmia riifa actually emerged from the 

 pupa, and remained in the clay cells until the spring. If the 

 cells were broken open before the spring they would fly away ; 

 but if left alone they never came out of the cells until the 

 first fine day in March or April. 



DECEMBER 22nd, 1892. 



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



Mr. H. Williams exhibited two male specimens of Colias 

 hyale, L., bred this year from ova obtained from a female of 

 the species taken at Northfleet last September. Mr. Barrett 

 congratulated Mr. Williams upon his success in rearing this 

 species, which, so far as he knew, was the first occasion it had 

 been bred in this country. 



Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher exhibited a long series of Psilura 

 monacha, L., and stated that the ova from which they were 

 bred were deposited by a normal female in 1887, and were 

 given to him by Mr. Tate. By careful selection he had at 

 last obtained a dark race, and had no doubt that in time per- 

 fectly black specimens would be produced. In 1888 the 

 specimens were nearly all of them normal : the darkest 

 parents were selected from this brood, and the following year 

 produced banded specimens ; and on breeding from these 

 the specimens obtained were suffused on the outer margin, 

 and in 1891 and 1892 they were almost black. 



Mr. Tugwell said the black form occurred occasionally at 

 West Wickham, Kent, he having taken it there. Mr. R. 

 Adkin pointed out the differences between British specimens 

 and those from the Continent — the latter having a smoky 

 brown-coloured ground, approaching Ocneria dispar, L., whilst 

 in the former the ground maintained its normal lightness, but 

 was in many cases much obscured by a black suffusion. 



