THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



colours in the larval environment at the time of spinning up. Mr. Poulton 

 said this colour susceptibility had been previously proved by him in 1886, 

 in the case of Saturnia carpini, and the experiments on the subject had been 

 described in the Proc. Royal Society, 1887. It appeared from these experi- 

 ments that the cocoons were dark brown when the larvae had been placed in 

 a black bag ; white when they had been freely exposed to light with white 

 surfaces in the immeuinte neighbourhood. Mr. Poulton stated that two 

 other species subjected to experiment during the past season afforded con- 

 firmatory results. Thus the mature larvae of Eriogaster lanestris had been 

 exposed to white surroundings by the Rev. W. J. H. Newman, and cream 

 coloured cocoons were produced in all cases ; whilst two or three hundred 

 larva? from the same company, spun the ordinary dark brown cocoons among 

 the leaves of the food-plant. In the latter case the green surroundings 

 appeared to act as a stimulus to the production of a colour which corres- 

 ponded with that which the leaves would subsequently assume. Mr. Poulton 

 further stated that he had more recently exposed the larvae of Halias prasu 

 nana to white surroundings, and had obtained a white and a very light yellow 

 cocoon— far lighter than the lightest of those met with upon leaves. The 

 larva which spun the white cocoon had previously begun to spin a brown one 

 upon a leaf, but upon being removed to white surroundings it produced 

 white silk. 



Mr. Stainton suggested that larvae should be placed in green boxes, with 

 the view of ascertaining whether the cocoons would be green. He under- 

 stood that it had been suggested that the cocoons formed amongst leaves 

 became brown because the larvae knew what colour the leaves would ultimately 

 become. The discussion was continued by Mr. Waterhouse, Dr. Sharp, Mr. 

 M'Lachlan, and others. 



Mr. Klein read " Notes on Ephestia Kuhniella" and exhibited a number 

 of living larvae of the species, which he said had been recently doing great 

 damage to flour in a warehouse in the East of London. 



Mr. A. G. Baker contributed a paper "On the species of the Lepidopterous 

 genus Euchromia; with descriptions of new species in the collection of the 

 British Museum." 



Lord Walsingham communicated a note substituting the generic name 

 Homonymus for the generic name AnMstrophorus — which was preoccupied — 

 used in his " Revision of the genera Acrolophus and Anaphora" recently 

 published by the Society. 



Mr. Waterhouse announced that at the December meeting he would ex- 

 hibit a series of diagrams of wings of insects, and make some observations 

 on the homologies of the veins. — H. Uoss, Hon, Sec, 



