90 



made by Messrs. Carrington and Billups at Esher, and shown 

 at the Annual Exhibition, were three rare species, viz., Poly- 

 porus schweinizii, Fr., Sparassis crispa, Fr., and Tremellodon 

 gelatinosum^ Pers. 



Mr. R. Adkin exhibited a series of Spilosoma mendica y 

 Clerck., including males varying in ground colour from 

 creamy-white to smoky-brown, and females of the usual 

 white form, bred from ova from Co. Cork ; males of the 

 creamy-white shade taken at light at Antrim ; and bred 

 males and females of the usual English type, for com- 

 parison, and read the following notes: — 



" This interesting form of the male mendica appears to 

 have been unobserved in Ireland until within the last two or 

 three years. It was brought to my notice in the spring of 

 last year by my esteemed correspondent, Mr. H. McDowall, 

 then residing at Passage West, Co. Cork, who very kindly 

 sent me a couple of specimens ; and having previously seen 

 nothing at all resembling them from other districts I deter- 

 mined to investigate as far as possible so curious a case of di- 

 morphism ; and as my friend also sent me ova I was at once 

 placed in a position to prosecute my inquiries. These ova 

 agreed closely with some that I obtained from the London 

 district for the purpose of comparison ; in due course both 

 lots hatched, and the larvae were fed up in separate cages, 

 side by side. I was curious to note whether so marked a 

 difference in the imago would be in any way reproduced in 

 the larva ; but a close and frequent examination of them 

 during the time they were feeding up, proved that it was 

 not, and I could detect no greater difference between the two 

 batches than between individuals of the one or the other ; 

 they pupated in a similar manner, and in the spring of the 

 present year produced the specimens now exhibited. 



" With regard to the distribution of this form in Ireland, 

 Mr. McDowall informs me that the parent moth was taken in 

 West Cork, flying over the herbage on a rocky hillside about 

 ten o'clock on a June morning, and that the only other 

 example that has come under his notice was a male of the 

 creamy-white shade that was captured some thirty miles dis- 



