63 



amazing rapidity for a few yards and then suddenly disappeared: all efforts to dis- 

 cover it were unavailing, and the search was abandoned, when the insect was again 

 disturbed by a stone casually thrown at a butterfly sitting on a neighbouring flower, 

 when Captain Russell succeeded in securing it in his net. 



The variety of Vanessa Urticse was captured by Captain Russell, flying in a garden 

 at Waltishani, Suffolk. The specimen was somewhat crippled, and he had at first 

 thought it a hybrid between V. Urticse and V. Antiopa. 



The specimen of Anesychia Echiella, W. V. (A. bipunctella, F.), which was also 

 placed amongst the "Reputed British Species" in Mr. Doubleday's List, was 

 taken by Captain Russell in a chalk-pit at Chelsworth, Suffolk, in the summer of 

 1861. 



The specimen of Cabera was bred from the larva, and the reason for its exhibi- 

 tion was, that out of sixteen larvae precisely similar in appearance, and all fed upon 

 alder, fifteen produced insects of the form known as Cabera pusaria, whilst the six- 

 teenth produced the exhibited specimen, which was of the form known as C. rotun- 

 daria. 



Mr. Rye exhibited specimens of Lathrobium geminum, Kraatz, and read the fol- 

 lowing notes on the characters which distinguish it from the allied species : — 



" Lathrobium geminum, Kraatz (= L. elongatum, Gyll.) Hitherto confounded in 

 our collections with L. elongatum, Linn., and apparently almost as common. 



"L. brunnipes, the first of the larger species, apart from its very distinct characters 

 underneath in both sexes, is at once to be distinguished by its entirely black upper 

 surface, all the others near it in size having the elytra more or less barred on the api^ 

 cal half with red or reddish brown ; and although this colour is sometimes suffused all 

 over the elytron, it is never so dark as in L. brunnipes. 



" The next species, L. elongatum, Linn., most closely resembles L. geminum in 

 colour, punctuation and size ; the only character on the upper side being the relative 

 length and width of the thorax and elytra. 



" In L. elongatum, Linn., the thorax is decidedly narrower than, and not so long 

 as, the elytra, whereas in L. geminum it is very nearly, if not quite, as wide and long 

 as the elytra, imparting a broader and more robust look to the insect. 



" It is, however, underneath that the chief differences are to be found, as usual in 

 this genus. 



"The male L. elongatum, ZiJira., has on the middle of the lower surface of the 

 penultimate segment of the abdomen a shallow longitudinal fovea, widening behind, 

 with a ihickly-elevated ridge of stiff black hairs on each side, and distinctly and acutely 

 excised where it meets the hinder margin. 



"In L. geminum the male has (in the same place) two short parallel ridges of 

 black hairs and no acute marginal excision, each ridge terminating in a very gentle 

 and scarcely perceptible flexuosity. 



" The females of both, as in nearly all the genus, present no decided characters, 

 the penultimate segment in each having the hinder margin beneath somewhat in the 

 form of a cone truncated at its thick end with the corners slightly rounded, and this is 

 perhaps more distinct in L. elongatum, but in both sexes the under-surface of the 

 head presents sufficient difference to separate the two species, since in L. elongatum 

 it is roughly and thickly punctured, and in L. geminum more sparsely and finely. 



" The only remaining species at all like L. geminum is L. fulvipenne, which resem- 



