14 
defoliaria, pale ochreous, with a very clear dark band. These were all 
from one batch of eggs, and showed the effects of heredity, as almost 
every specimen was distinctly banded and followed the parent form, 
none of the usual unicolorous specimens were bred with them. Mr. 
Huckett, bred specimens of Hybernia defoliaria. He remarked that 
these had emerged almost continuously from October, until the present 
time. Mr. Bellamy, Ennomos tiliaria, E. fuscantaria, Selenia lunaria, and 
some suffused specimens of Himera pennaria, all from Wood Green. 
Mr. Prout, several Geometrce, with the transverse lines approximating, 
the enclosed band in some cases resolving itself into a line. These in¬ 
cluded specimens of Ennomos angularia, Himera pennaria, Eupithecia 
abbreviata, Thera variata, Melanthia ocellata and Melanippe montanata. 
Mr. Boden, Coccyx strobilana, C. splendidulana, C. argyrana, C. abiegana, 
C. nanana and C. vacciniana, all from West Wickham. Mr. Gates, Hy- 
percallia christiernella, from Sevenoaks. Exhibits of the genus Xanthia 
were made by Messrs. Bacot, Battley, Boden, Clark, Gates, Hodges, 
Riches, Routledge, Sequeira, Southey and Tutt. 
Mr. Tutt then read the following paper on “ The Genus Xanthia .” 
He said :—“ The genus Xanthia and the species we usually ally with it, 
probably attract more attention from the collector than that of any 
other group of the Nocmas. Their colours are attractive, and in our 
cabinet drawers immediately arrest the attention of anyone looking at 
them. The colour is in all the species of a yellow or orange shade, and 
it is not difficult to understand that their appearance in the imago state 
at the beginning of, or, in fact, well into the autumn months, and their 
habit of clinging to the leaves of the trees, or to the grasses and low 
plants at the base of the trees or bushes on which the larvse feed, make 
these shades of colour especially useful as a protection when simulating 
the yellow leaves which at that time of the year hang so thickly in the 
spiders’ webs, on the grass, etc.; and more than one of the food-plants 
of these species ( e.g . sallow and lime) are particularly noticeable for 
the bright yellow tint of the falling and newly-fallen leaves in the 
autumn. The darker lines and blotches on the wings aid the simulation 
still more strongly, and the exact resemblance which Hoporina croceago, 
a supposed near ally to Xanthia, bears to the dead oak-leaf, into which 
it usually appears to crawl to spend the winter months, is particularly 
striking, and if we consider the great abundance of both X. fulvago 
and X. Jlavago, compared with the few specimens one meets at rest 
during the day, the completeness of their protective resemblance can 
be readily understood. Mr. Holland writes :—“ The natural hiding- 
place of fulvago and Jlavago is among the long grass and herbage 
growing near the sallows. In damp woods they are especially plenti¬ 
ful, and I often see them at dusk, struggling out of the tangled 
stuff beneath the sallows, and crawling up to the tops of the long 
grasses,—hundreds of them, on some favourable nights,—and they 
may be readily looked over and boxed. They are not, however, 
always in the same humour, and on some nights they fly about a 
great deal. A few moths, odd ones, fall from the sallow-bushes 
into the Bignell during the day, but not many rest there, and perhaps 
those found are moths which have just emerged and dried their 
wings.” The yellow ground colour of the species of Xanthia is, 
as 1 have before remarked, varied with darker hues and blotches, and 
these are usually of a reddish, sometimes inclining to brown or pur- 
