G. T. PORRITT : PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. TOI 



instinctively, — shall I say knowing- that betore next spring the 

 low plants would all have died down and been destroyed, the 

 pupae with them, — crawl away from the plants, often long 

 distances, to some wall or solid substance, and thereon pupate, 

 the pupae then being stone or other colour in accordance with 

 the surroundings. I questioned members on the matter, but 

 found, as was my own experience, that none of those I asked 

 could remember a sing^le instance of finding a green pupa of 

 Pieris rupee in winter. That this is also the case with Pieris 

 napi there is little doubt, though on it the necessary record 

 of absolute observation to establish the fact was not forthcoming 

 at the meeting referred to. 



In larvae of lepidoptera some of our members have taken 

 considerable interest, and to myself at any rate, their stud}' has 

 always had an intense fascination. And who indeed of the 

 most casual observers has not in one way or another been 

 interested in caterpillars ? AVhen we consider their wonderful 

 mode of life, some species spending the whole of their exist- 

 ence in the solid trunks of trees, others in small stems or 

 twigs, a host of them underground, light and sun, and 

 apparently too much fresh air even, being fatal to them. To 

 others, sun and light, and plenty of it, seems essential to 

 their existence, the genera MelitcEu^ Argynnis^ Vanessa^ and 

 others among the butterflies ; the gaily coloured species of 

 Deilephila, Cucidlia, etc. ; the hairy Chelonias, Arctias, and 

 many others among the moths, delighting to bask in its full 

 rays ; the grotesque appearance assumed by those of the 

 CtispidatcB, including the threatefiing attitude of Dicranura 

 vimda, our familiar puss moth ; and the weird and uncanny 

 posture assumed by the larva of Staiiropiis fugi, the lobster 

 moth. The whole genus Dianthoecia feed in the seed-capsules 

 of the various species of Sileue and Lychnis, the species of 

 Hydrocampa and several allied genera on aquatic plants, 

 under water ; the species of Ephestia investigate our dried 

 fruits, — who has not been disgusted to find the fat maggot- 

 looking- larva of Ephestia ficeUa in the middle of a choice 

 looking fig ? whilst our ripe apples, plums, and other 

 ' green ' fruits, all have their lepidopterous tenants. Then 

 turn to the leaf-rolling Tortrices ; leaves rolled and spun 

 together in every conceivable way, but each species adhering 

 to its own method, generally having two orifices for exit, so 

 that when a hungry bird puts in his beak at one end, to his 

 astonishment he does not always swallow the larva ; he 

 would find it if he looked, but that does not occur to him — 

 dropped one or two or even three or more yards below, hanging- 

 by a single and almost invisible thread, up which it- climbs to 

 its leaf again when danger is over. Or go on to the infinite 

 variety of methods employed by the Tineae ; the species of 

 Psyche, Goleophora, etc., entirely cover themselves with cases 

 formed of grass, moss, dead leaves, etc., the case of every 



