rhannia, which had knocked itself to pieces through being placed in a 
pill-box, 
Paper Read.- — Dr. Chapman read a paper, entitled “ Notes on the 
(jraciluriadae." He commenced by going into the position the 
(j-racilanadae occupied in the system of classification, and stated that 
not only for the family under discussion, but in a general way, we 
should use the characters afforded by the early stages, but should not 
debar the imaginal ones. The Graeilariadae offered most useful 
characters in the early stages, particularly in the larva and pupa. 
The mouth parts in the former showed remarkable specialisations, 
which might be considered as advanced, for it was accepted that if an 
organ was complicated it was to be considered advanced, and if simple 
degraded. This was said to be true only if applied to an organ, and 
not to the insect altogether. In the genus (iracilciria the unusual 
phenomenon in the larva occurred that while the early instars were 
modified the later ones were normal. Dr. Chapman in part accounted 
for this by stating that each larval instar is equal to the pupal period, 
and (piite independent of further instars. As a rule the full grown 
larva was much more liable to specialisation, owing to its different 
mode of life. Various details were then given as to the different ap¬ 
pearance of different mines made by the larvae. The structure of the 
pupa was then gone into, and it was stated that it came under the 
division “ lncompletre,” having only two segments free. This was a 
most unusual and uncommon type, and as it was so rare in the lepi- 
doptera generally, it was reasonable to suppose that the type was not a 
useful one. In <Iraci/aria the incomplete pupa was the extreme in 
that direction, having more movable segments than any other. At 
the close of the paper Mr. Prout said that the early stages in the 
larva being specialised and the later ones not so was against our usual 
ideas of phylogeny being built upon ontogeny. Mr. Nicholson en¬ 
quired of the use of the silk spun by 1 dthocolletix lame on the under¬ 
side of the cuticle of the leaf after it has consumed the parenchyma. 
Dr. Chapman replied to Mr. Nicholson’s question that the silk was 
used to make the cuticle more robust, the larva making two silken 
contacts which fold the leaf by contraction. 
April 1st, 1902. — New Members Elected. — Mr. F. T. West, 04, 
Brooke Road, M ood Street, Walthamstow ; and Mr. W. Jackson, 5P, 
St. John’s Lane, Clerkenwell, were elected members of the Society. 
Mullerian association of Guiana Insects. — Mr. W. J. Kaye ex¬ 
hibited a box of British Guiana insects, illustrating several instances 
of Mullerian association. One of these included Ij/mrea /tasiniintia, 
/.. ceres, Melinaea mnrine, Melinaea n.s/i., M. erameri . M. ei/ina, Meeha- 
it ill's dnri/ssiis, Cerrtiiiiti J'enestella , / leliemiins ret list ns, and II. ninnato, 
all with, or tending to have, a black hindwing. In such associations 
it was generally supposed that the /leliemiins set the pattern or was 
the centre, by reason of its being the commonest and most con¬ 
spicuous. but in this group the I leliemiins species were actually rather 
uncommon, and it was supposed that here some other species was the 
dominant individual. Meliuaea mneme easily came first in point of 
numbers, and as it was itself a strong variant, there appeared no reason 
why this species should not have been the type for the group. 
Special Exhibit of European Riioraloceua. — A very large quail- 
