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South London Entomological and Natural 

 History Society. — June 23rd, 1S98, Mr. J. W. 

 Tutt, F.E.S., President, in the chair. Mr. Broome, 

 Christchurch, . Oxford, was elected a member. 

 Mr. Filer exhibited living larvae of Thecla rubl, 

 feeding on rock-rose (Cistus), and called attention 

 to their remarkable protective coloration. Mr. 

 Adkin, larvae of A cidalia margin! 'punctata (promutata), 

 and read notes on their habits ; some were nearly 

 full fed, while others were small ; the ova had 

 hatched early last autumn. Mr. Moore, two 

 fine varieties of Arctia caja, bred from ova by Mr. 

 Cooke : (1) forewings uniformly dark chocolate 

 without the usual cream markings ; (2) forewings 

 with a very considerable decrease in the area 

 covered by the dark markings. The larvae, some 

 sixty in number, fed all the winter on cabbage. 

 Mr. West, the coleoptera he had taken at the 

 Reigate Field Meeting. Mr. Barnett, a specimen 

 of Venilia maculata, having the dark blotches 

 irregularly joined and blurred on one side only. — 

 July 14th, Mr. R. Adkin, F.E.S., Vice-President, 

 in the chair. Mr. H. Shortridge Clarke, F.E.S., 

 Sulby Vicarage, Isle of Man, was elected a 

 member. Mr. South exhibited a series of Lycaena 

 corydon to illustrate the variation in the number 

 and arrangement of the spots on the under-surface; 

 also a series of forty-two Spilosoma lubricepeda, 

 comprising thirty-five var. zatima = radiata and 

 seven typical males, all reared from ova laid by a 

 dark female zatima. Mr. Moore, a dwarf specimen 

 of Polyommatus icarus from Folkestone. Mr. Lucas, 

 specimens of Libellula quadrimaculata showing 

 considerable variation in the size of the dark spot, 

 and also in the amount of the saffron coloration. 

 Mr. West (Greenwich) a short series of the local 

 hemipteron, Lopus flavomarginatus from Abbey 

 Wood. Mr. Little, a full-sized drawing of a 

 curiously-curled and fasciated stem of the holly 

 from the New Forest. Mr. Perks, specimens of 

 the orchids Herminium monorchia and Neottia nidus- 

 avis from Box Hill. Mr. Dennis, an egg of 

 Polyommatus icarus under the microscope ; it was 

 comparable to a beautiful white double dahlia. 

 Mr. Adkin read a report of the field meeting held 

 on June nth, at Reigate. — Hy. J. Turner, Hon. 

 Report Sec. 



City of London Entomological -and Natural 

 History Society. — July 19th, 1898. Exhibits : 

 Mr. W. Hawker Smith, Hymenoptera and Coleop- 

 tera, the latter including Hylobius abietis, Lagria hirta, 

 Liopus nebuiosus, Corymbites tessellatus and Chrysomela 

 staphylea from New Forest. Mr. Charles Oldham, 

 Cymatophora ocularis, one, from Epping Forest ; one 

 Adela degeerella and series of Dipterygia scabriuscula 

 (pinastri) from same district. He reported sugar 

 was not attracting moths, the result of four nights' 

 work being one insect captured, but that happened 

 to be the ocularis exhibited. Members now at the 

 New Forest had written to friends saying sugaring 

 was meeting with little success there, and they 

 attributed the failure to the abundance of honey- 

 dew. Members in Norfolk lamented the same 

 lack of night-sport. Mr. Jennings gave a report of 



an excursion to Deal, in which he had taken part. 

 The part}' was under the leadership of Mr. Sidney 

 Webb, and walked from Deal through Worth to 

 Sandwich. Mr. Jennings had been successful in 

 taking eight Hypera fasciculata and specimens of 

 Donacia menyanthidis and D. nigra. Eventually the 

 party took train to Dover, where they were most 

 hospitably entertained by their leader. Mr. Sauze 

 gave notes of a holiday spent at Boscombe, alluding 

 to a few of the captures made there and at the 

 New Forest. He took Helix lapicida at Corfe 

 Castle, and specimens of Vertigo sp., but had the 

 misfortune to leave the box containing the latter 

 on the grass. — August 2nd, 1898. Exhibits : Mr. 

 H. Ainslie Hill, a puzzling variety of Hydroecia 

 nictitans, large, and without trace of white in the 

 reniform stigma, a fresh-conditioned insect taken 

 in the New Forest in 1894 ; also a specimen of 

 Sirex gigas, captured at same period. Mr. E. 

 Heasler, six specimens of Acontia luctuosa, caught 

 on the occasion of the club's excursion to Wester- 

 ham, the spots of one being of a light-brown 

 colour. Mr. F. B. Jennings, series including a 

 blue variety of Donacia crassipes, from the Lea 

 Valley, found on the yellow and white water lilies ; 

 also a female specimen (alive) of Donacia dentata, from 

 Wicken, found in some numbers on the arrowhead, 

 and several Una populi, principally on the sallows, 

 and . Chrysomela graminis, male and female, from 

 same locality. Mr. C. Oldham, a very variable 

 series of bred Odonestis potatoria, and one Lasiocampa 

 quercifolia, also bred. He showed a spike of 

 Verbascum blattaria, thirty-one inches long, the root 

 of which originally came from Norfolk, and has 

 since been cultivated. Mr. Sauze, a bee (Eucera 

 longicomis, male), and a female hornet (Vespa crabro) 

 from the New Forest, taken last June. Mr. 

 Jennings reported he had observed Chrysis cyanea 

 in the Lea Valley. Mr. Hill noticed Hesperia lineola 

 round muddy puddles at Leigh, on the previous 

 day, and allusion was made to Pieris brassicae 

 following water-carts and alighting for a drink. 

 Mr. Bate spoke of the swiftness on the wing of 

 Tryphoena ianthina, which was appearing at 

 Dulwich, and said Hepialus sylvanus was out 

 already, which he considered early. Mr. C. 

 Nicholson gave an account of an excursion, on the 

 previous day, to Wicken, during which about forty 

 larvae of the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio machaon) 

 were taken, their sizes varying from one-eighth to 

 one and a-half inches in length ; a few larvae of 

 Saturnia pavonia were taken on meadow sweet ; 

 Tryphoena interjecta and Cidaria testata were on the 

 wing. — Harold A . Sauze, Hon. Sec. 



NOTICES OF SOCIETIES. 



Ordinary meetings are marked \, excursions * ; names of 

 persons following excursions are of Conductors. 

 Geologists' Association of London. 

 Sept. 10.— *Gravesend, Kent. G. E. Dibley, F.G.S. 

 Further particulars from Horace W. Monckton, 

 Hon. Sec. (Excursions), 10, King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C. 



Lambeth Field Club and Scientific Society. 

 Sept. 18. — *Caterham. 

 „ 20.— 1" Dew." (With experiments.) J. J. Denton. 

 Hon. Sec, H. Wilson, 134, Abbeville Road. Clapham, S.W. 



North London Natural History Society. 

 Sept. 1.— t" The Microscopic Inhabitants of a Stagnant 

 Ditch." C. Nicholson, F.E.S. 

 „ 3. — *Epping Forest. The President. 



I5 . — {Debate: "Are the Man and the .Monkey de- 

 scended from a common Ancestor ? " Opened 

 in the affirmative by A. Bacot ; opened in the 

 negative by B. S. James. 

 Oct. 6.— tPocket Box Exhibition. 



20. t" Buttercups and their Allies ; or, the Teachings 



of Systematic Botany as to Evolution." Prof. 

 G. S. Boulger. 



