XXIV 



the cord fastened firmly to the back of the Homopteron being the oral or 

 attached end of that case ; i. e., the end by which the case-bearers fasten 

 themselves when at rest to the twigs and branches of the plants on which 

 they live, the attachment being quite as firm, or even firmer, than that 

 of the present specimens. Mr. Wood-Mason's view of the nature of the rela- 

 tion of the caterpillar to the Homopteron in all these cases had always been 

 that the former is the messmate of the latter rather than its parasite, merely 

 making use of it as a vehicle whereon to reach its vegetable food, just as in the 

 curious case recently brought to notice by Fritz Miiller (' Nature,' vol. xv., 

 p. 264), and employing,^ — as Colonel Godwin-Austen's valuable note on the 

 specimen found by him on AphcBna, sp., and his own examination of that 

 specimen in its cocoon seemed conclusively to prove — some of its messmate's 

 wax to cover its body (and in some instances for the construction of a case), 

 in order probably to render itself less conspicuous to its enemies [Ichneu- 

 monidcB, TachinidcB, &c.) than it would be as a naked, fleshy, yellowish grub 

 upon the white wax-covered surface of its messmate's body. He had opened 

 the flattened squarish cocoon constructed by Col. Austen's specimen, and 

 found the body of the enclosed caterpillar still clothed thickly on its upper 

 surface with the satiny asbestos-like waxy substance secreted by its mess- 

 mate. This specimen was probably identical with Professor Westwood's 

 Epipyrops, while the one from Bangalore represented a different but closely- 

 allied form, distinguished in the larval condition by the presence of a 

 well-developed case, which may or may not have been rendered less 

 conspicuous by a covering of wax borrowed from its homopterous "chum." 



With reference to the firmness of the attachment of the cord to the back 

 of the Homopteron, Mr, Jenner Weir reminded the Society that the larvse 

 of Psyche were always most firmly fixed, and Mr. M'Lachlan stated that 

 the larvae of Phryganea glued down their cases with great firmness under 

 water. 



Mr. W. L. Distant raised the question as to whether the Homopteron 

 frequented the plants on which the caterpillar fed or whether the latter 

 was omnivorous. 



Prof. Westwood also mentioned a small dingy moth from Brazil, of 

 which numbers had been found upon the Three-fingered Sloth, Bradypus 

 tridactylus. 



Mr. Meldola exhibited a collection of Lepidoptera, from Ceylon and 

 the Nicobar Islands, formed by him in 1875. Among them were a few 

 species new to science. The collection had recently been worked out by 

 Mr. F. Moore. 



Mr. H. Goss exhibited a series of specimens of Lyccena [Gupido] Avion, 

 taken in the Cotswolds in June, 1877. One-third of the specimens 

 exhibited were far below the average size, the remainder being of the 

 normal size. Both forms were taken flying together at the same time of 



