36 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Capt. Elwes read a letter from Mr. Doherty, in which the writer 

 described his experiences in collecting insects in the Naga Hills by means 

 of light and sugar. Mr. Doherty expressed an opinion that light, if used 

 in very out-of-the-way places, rather repelled than attracted insects ; in fact, 

 that they required to be accustomed to it, and that the same remarks 

 applied to " sugar." 



Colonel Swinhoe said that the. attractive power of light depended very 

 much on its intensity, and on the height of the light above the ground. 

 By means of the electric light in Bombay he had collected more than 300 

 specimens of Sphingidce in one night. Mr. J.J. Walker, R.N., stated that 

 he had found the electric light very attractive to insects in Panama. 

 Mr. M'Lachlan, Dr. Sharp, Mr. Leech, Capt. Elwes, the Rev. Canon 

 Fowler, Mr. A. J. Rose, and others continued the discussion. 



Mr. Lionel de Niceville communicated a paper entitled " Notes on a 

 new genus of Lycanida." 



Mr. F. Merrifield read a paper entitled " Systematic temperature experi- 

 ments on some Lepidoptera in all their stages," and exhibited a number of 

 specimens in illustration. The author stated that the darkness of colour and 

 the markings in Ennomos aulumnaria resulted from the pupae being sub- 

 jected to a very low temperature. In the case of Selenia illustraria, exposing 

 the pupae to a low temperature had not only affected the colour of the imagos, 

 but had altered the markings in a striking manner. 



Lord Walsingham observed that it appeared that exposure to cold in 

 the pupa-state produced.a darker colouring in the imago, and that forcing in 

 that stage had an opposite effect; that insects subjected to glacial 

 conditions probably derived some advantage from the development of dark 

 or suffused colouring, and that this advantage was, in all probability, the 

 more rapid absorption of heat. He said he believed that an hereditary 

 tendency in favour of the darker forms was established under glacial 

 conditions, and that this would account for the prevalence of melanic forms 

 in northern latitudes and at high elevations. Capt. Elwes, Mr. Jenner 

 Weir, Dr. Sharp, and others continued the discussion. — H. Goss & W. W. 

 Fowler, Hon. Sees. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Notes on Sport and Ornithology. By His Imperial and Royal 

 Highness the late Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. 

 Translated with the author's permission by C. G. Danford. 

 8vo, pp. 648. London : Gurney & Jackson. 1889. 



His well-known love of natural history and keen enjoyment 

 of field sports, coupled with the unusual facilities for indulging 



