115 



in a breeding cage near the fire-grate. In addition, eight 

 pupae were placed out of doors in November, and were left 

 exposed to the cold of the winter. These lived, retaining 

 their lovely green colour till the end of the following March, 

 and they all emerged during the first nine days of April. 



" The resulting insects are not, perhaps, sufficiently 

 numerous to generalise upon, but it will be seen that a 

 certain amount of variation exists, in particular some of 

 those of November and December, 1892, have a tendency 

 to a darkening of the outer margin of the under side of the 

 hind wings, and also have a greyish tone compared with 

 the spring specimens. The under sides of the latter are of a 

 warmer brown, and have not the dark edging before referred 

 to so pronounced. 



" Ainphidasys hetulavia. — The whole of the batch of fifty 

 specimens of this insect were bred by myself from ova 

 deposited by a captured female of the normal type, taken in 

 Essex in June, 1895. 



"There being nothing striking about this female, when she 

 had finished laying, her remains were thrown away, and of 

 the male parent I have, of course, no knowledge whatever. 

 Wishing to enlarge my series, I fed up the larvae, little 

 thinking that the resulting insects would be anything other 

 than typical, but to my gratification they covered a range in 

 colour varying from a form lighter than the type to a black, 

 almost equal to that of the variety donhledayaria.'" 



Mr. Mansbridge exhibited a specimen of Cahera ptisaria, 

 var. rotundaria, bred from North Kent. 



Mr. Edwards exhibited a specimen oi Abraxas grossidariata, 

 bred from Edmonton. The usually white areas were closely 

 dusted with fine dark dots, and the orange markings were 

 well developed and intense. 



Mr. Rose exhibited a long series of Xanthia aurago. They 

 showed a very extensive range of variation, including rich 

 uniform red, bright canary-coloured, and banded forms of 

 all shades. They were taken at Reading. 



Mr. Butler, of Reading, exhibited ordinary forms and dark 

 vz.r\ei\es oi Staiiropus fagitdLken in May, 1897; ordinary forms 

 and dark varieties bred in April, 1898 ; pale, intermediate, 

 and dark forms bred in July and August, 1897-8 ; very dark 

 forms from August pairing (black parents), bred June, 1898 — 

 the first time a second brood has been reared in this 

 country. Xanthia aurago, long series, all the forms given by 

 Mr. Tutt, " British Noctuae and their Varieties," also a pink 

 form not mentioned in the above work. 



