27 
5th. Spots confluent, forming solid black patches over 
nearly the whole of wings. 
6th. The spots having the type form, but the white 
ground tinged with a smoky brown or drab colour, some- 
times suffusing the whole of the wings. 
7th. Spots of the type form, but the ground of wings 
bright yellow. 
From various experiments with many thousands of larvae 
of this species, I have come to the conclusion that these 
variations are in a great measure hereditary, that one brood 
of eggs will produce moths of forms in a great measure 
identical, if the parents be of the ordinary type ; if the eggs 
be the produce of moths of extreme colouring, varying much 
from the type, then, although the bulk of moths will be 
marked dark or light, as the parents, there will be others of 
the ordinary type, and also some of the very opposite 
character of marking, precisely as in many florists’ flowers, 
the seed from those varying most from the original form are 
known to produce the most marked and opposite varieties. 
These experiments can only produce approximate results, 
unless a great number of years could be devoted to them, 
and in this and many others of our most variable species, it 
is almost impossible to rear them in confinement beyond the 
second generation. 
PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 
October 11th, 1870. 
Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S., in the Chair. 
Mr. G. V. Vernon, F.R.A.S., stated that being at Keswick 
on August loth, 1870, he observed, at about 8.45 p.m., a 
shooting star fall from near the zenith, and apparently 
explode at an elevation of about 30° above the horizon, 
leaving a very peculiar appearance behind it. 
