MEETINGS. 15 



Monthly Meeting held September 9th, 1890, Mr. T. Gwille, 

 President, in the chair. 



The minutes of the last meeting having been read and 

 confirmed, Miss Gilbert, Miss Turner, Miss Heppel and Miss 

 Beaty were unanimously elected members of the Society, 

 and Messrs. T. C. Koyle and Thomas Johns proposed for 

 election. 



Mr. Hugo then exhibited a piece of quartz containing 

 specks of gold found in Guernsey, and he read a letter from 

 the finder, who presents the specimen to the Museum. 



Mr. D. Corbet then followed with a paper on " Witchcraft 

 in Guernsey," in which he gave an amusing account of the 

 present day superstitions in this particular in Guernsey, 

 concluding with a quotation from one of his own poems in 

 Guernsey patois. 



A long and animated discussion followed the reading of 

 this paper. Mr. Luff read the following notes on (1) The 

 occurrence of Aglossa pinguinalis (The Tabby Moth) in 

 a greenhouse, and (2) Nonagria geminipuncta. Several 

 specimens of each kind of moth were exhibited : — 



In September, 1889, a gentleman residing at St. Andrew's, 

 brought me several black larvae which he said were swarming on the 

 floor of his greenhouse, and he naturally enough wished to know 

 what they were, and if they would be likely to injure his grape vines. 



I visited the spot and found hundreds of these larvae in silken 

 tubes extending to the depth of from 1^ to 2 inches into the ground. 



On the surface of the ground these tubes were continued, and 

 were covered with fragments of dried leaves and stems from the 

 vines and excrement from the larvae. I secured specimens and sent 

 several to an entomologist in London, who had access to preserved 

 larvae and coloured drawings of most of the British species of Lepi- 

 doptera, but he was puzzled and could not name them ; he then sent 

 specimens to be exhibited to the members of the South London 

 Entomological Society, and received the following reply : — 



It is a beetle larva, and feeds upon decayed vegetables — not 

 uncommon. The President is not sure of its name ; it was shown to 

 a lot of people in the room, but no one could give more information. 



Not being satisfied with this answer, I determined to try and 

 rear the larvae in the hope of getting the perfect insect. I gave 

 several to Mrs. Boley, who was the first to rear it, and it turned out 

 to be a common moth, namely, Aglossa Pinguinalis. 



On referring to Humphrey and Westwood, Morris and 

 Stephen's Works on the British Lepidoptera, I find they all say 

 that the larvae feed upon butter, lard, and other oleaginous substances. 



In the number of the Entomologists Monthly Magazine for 

 February, 1884, there is, however, a very complete life history of 



