1917-18! 



347 



THE WOODLICE OF ULSTER. 

 "THE LIFE HISTORY OF SOME BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA." 



The third Winter meeting was held in the Museum, College 

 Square North, on 18th January, the Vice-President, Mr. A. M'l. 

 Cleland occupying the chair. 



Mr. Nevin H. Foster, F.L.S., M.R.I. A., presented a paper 

 entitled " The Woodlice of Ulster " which, he said, was the result 

 of upwards of ten years' collecting in which he had received 

 valuable assistance from several members of the Club. On 

 the motion of Mr. Joseph Maxwell, seconded by Mr. J. A. 

 Sidney Stendall it was resolved that the paper should be printed 

 as an Appendix and issued with the next part* of the Club's 

 Proceedings. 



The Chairman then called on Rev. Kenneth Dunbar to give 

 his lecture on "The Life History of some British Lepidoptera." 

 Mr. Dunbar said that among Insect Orders that of Lepidoptera 

 was pre-eminent on grounds of beauty. The name was given by 

 Linnaeus on account of their wings being furnished with over- 

 lapping scales like the slates of a house. The members of this 

 Order underwent complete metamorphosis, there being four 

 distinct stages in their life-history — ova, larva, pupa and imago. 

 The eggs varied in shape, size and colour, the greater number 

 being visible to the naked eye — one foreign species being the size 

 of a small pea. Sometimes the eggs were ribbed and fluted. The 

 ova were for the most part laid on or near the food-plant, and 

 either singly or in clusters. One species, the Ghost-Swift, 

 dropped its eggs in flight. The ova were covered with a varnish ; 

 and temperature appeared to control the hatching to some extent, 

 which occupied from a few days to a couple of months. The 

 lepidopterous larvae were almost exclusively vegetarian, feeding on 

 the fluids of plants. The body of the caterpillar was soft and flexible 

 and was furnished with true legs on the thorax whose function 

 was to hold the leaf in position while the caterpillar was eating. 



* Inserted at end of this issue. 



