62 



in the Aosta valley was strikingly beautiful. It was really 

 remarkable what effect abundance of food and sufficient 

 heat could have on a species. The name lutarella was very 

 appropriate. 



In the discussion which followed Mr. Barrett said that very 

 frequently heat meant dryness of air, and that insects would 

 be attracted by moisture of any description. Mr. Moore 

 corroborated Mr, Tutt's remarks as to the abundance of 

 butterflies, but said that the air was by no means dry. Mr. 

 Mansbridge, who had just returned from a stay in the Indian 

 Territory, U.S.A., said that his experience of Rhopalocera 

 seeking moisture was very similar, and there, although the 

 temperature in the sun was from 95° to 110°, yet the air was 

 moist. He had also observed insects appearing in a constant 

 succession of broods throughout the summer from May 

 to September. At a later date he would communicate his 

 observations to the Society, and illustrate them with the 

 insects he had collected. 



SEPTEMBER 2^(11, 1894. 

 E. Step, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Auld exhibited a larva of Phorodesnia smaragdaria, 

 Fb., which had been feeding fourteen months. In July, 1893, 

 he had taken a number of the larvae of this species, and of 

 these three had gone on feeding beyond the usual time of 

 pupation. One of these three died in the beginning of 

 September, the second, after spinning a cocoon, died during 

 the third week of September, and the third was now exhibited. 

 It was somewhat darker in colour than those of the present 

 year, but to all appearances healthy. He thought the cir- 

 cumstance was most remarkable, and he was aware of no 

 similar instance of prolongation of the larval stage. The 

 whole of the larvae had been kept outdoors on the growing 

 plants, and exposed to the full influence of the weather. 

 The mortality among them was somewhat large. 



Mr. Jager exhibited a long series of CallimorpJia hera, L,, 

 including those he had taken during August in South Devon, 

 while working in company with Mr. H. Robson and Mr. 

 Porritt, and communicated the following note : — 



" Nearly the whole of our specimens were beaten out of 

 hedges bordering lanes and roads during August, but we 

 ascertained that their first natural flight occurs at dusk, when 

 we captured some flying in a garden round flowers, after the 

 manner of a hawk moth. The red normal form proved the 



