45 



JULY i$fh, 1886. 



R. Adkin, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. T. R. Billups exhibited specimens of Cleptes nitidula, 

 Latr., taken at Benfleet, in Essex, on the 5 th inst., on the 

 umbelliferous bloom of the Common Cow Parsnip (Heracletcm 

 sphondylium, L.), and which he stated was probably the rarest 

 of the twenty-two species comprising the family Chrysididae. 

 It had been taken in the New Forest and in Suffolk. Mr. 

 Smith states that he once took a specimen near Lowestoft, 

 and received one from Loch Rannoch. It will thus be seen 

 it is a very local species, the male especially so, the specimen 

 exhibited being the only male recorded as taken in this 

 country. 



This gentleman also exhibited the larvae of Geometra papil- 

 ionaria, L., and its parasite, Apanteles rubripes, Hal., and said 

 it had been bred by Mr. Curtis and Mr. Bignell, commonly 

 from the same larvae ; Mr. Harding had also reared it from 

 Vanessa urticcE, L., and Mr. Cameron from Pieris brassiccz, 

 L. 



Mr. Jager exhibited Dianthczcia nana, Rott, bred from 

 larvae obtained at Caterham, Surrey, and Teignmouth, Devon ; 

 those from the first-named locality feeding on Silene inflata, 

 Sm., and those from Teignmouth feeding on Silene maritima, 

 With. ; Diantlicecia cucubali, Fues., reared on 6\ inflata ; and 

 bred specimens of Botys terrealis, Tr. ; also several species of 

 Eupithecia, bred from various flower-heads which had been 

 kept in leno bags — a plan suggested by Mr. Carrington. 



Mr. Gaskell exhibited a variety of Ematnrga atomaria, 

 L., of an almost uniform fulvous tint with only slight indi- 

 cations of the normal , markings visible towards the hind 

 margin. The specimen was taken at West Wickham, Kent. 



Mr. J. T. Williams exhibited a specimen of Cabera pusaria, 

 L., irradiated with black ; a curious form of C. exanthemata, 

 Scop., Dasycera olivierella, Fb., from Foot's Cray, Kent, and 



