1890.] THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



9 



Lycanidce. He also exhibited two specimens of this but:erfiy which Mr. de Niceville 

 had referred to a new genus and described as Chatoprocta odata. The species was 

 said to occur only in the mountainous districts of North-West India, at elevations 

 of 5000 to 10,000 feet above the sea-level. 



Dr. D. Sharp exhibited the eggs of Piezostemum subulatum, Thunb., a bug from 

 South America. These eggs were taken from the interior of a specimen which had 

 been allowed to putrify before being mounted. Although the body of the parent had 

 completely rotted away, the eggs were in a perfect state of preservation, and the 

 J cellular condition of the yelk was very conspicuous. Dr. Sharp also exhibited a 

 specimen of Pari lochroma lewisii, Dist., a Pentatomid bug from Japan of a dull green 

 colour, which when damped with water became almost instantly of a metallic copper 

 colour. 



Mr. J. H. Leech exhibited a large number of Lepidoptera recently collected for 

 him by Mr. Pratt in the neighbourhood of Ichang, Central China. The collection 

 included about fifty-six new species of butterflies and fifty new species of moths. 



Capt, Elwes observed that he noticed only two genera in this collection which did 

 not occur at Sikkim, and that the similarity of the insect fauna of the two regions 

 was very remarkable. He added that about fifteen years ago, in a paper " On the 

 Birds of Asia," he had called attention to the similarity of species inhabiting the 

 mountain ranges of India, China, and Java. 



Mr. M'Lachlan remarked that he had lately received a number of species of 

 dragonflies from Simla which had previously only been recorded from Pekin. 



Mr. Distant said he had lately had a species of Cicada from Hongkong, which had 

 hitherto been supposed to be confined to Java. 



Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher exhibited a preserved specimen of a variety of the larva of 

 Sphinx ligustri, taken in a wood near Arundel, Sussex. Mr. W. White asked if the 

 *arva was normal in its early stage ; he also exhibited drawings of the larvae of this 

 species, and called especial attention to one of a variety that had been exhibited at a 

 previous meeting by Lord Walsingham. 



Mr. F. D. Godman read a long letter from Mr. Herbert Smith, containing an 

 account of the Hymenoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera he had recently 

 collected in St. Vincent, where he was emploped under the direction of a Committee 

 of the Royal Society, appointed to investigate the Natural History of the West 

 Indies. A discussion followed, in which Dr. Sharp, Capt. Elwes, Lord Walsingham, 

 and Mr. M'Lachlan took part. 



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 elec- 

 tric light in Bombay he had collected more than 300 specimens of Sphingida 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. 



