Societies and Academies

Abstract

LONDON. Entomological Society, June 7.—Mr. F. Merrifield, president, in the chair.—An earwig, Apterygida arachidis, Yers., found by Mr. Annandale, of Calcutta, in a box of specimens received from the Andaman Islands: M. Burr. When placed in a small box the earwig was alone, but next morning there were five larvæ present; two disappeared, apparently being consumed by the parent, and the remaining three were those exhibited. Mr. Burr also showed a locustid of the family Pseudophyllidæ, taken in Queensland by Mr. H. W. Simmonds among twigs and plants which it greatly resembled, together with a photograph of the insect in its natural position.—(i) Three examples of Gnorimus nobilis, L., taken at Woolwich on May 20 last under the bark of an old dead cherry tree, a beetle supposed to be becoming extinct in Britain; (2) a malformed specimen of Lochmaea suturalis which had the left posterior tibia bifid for about one-third of its length, and two tarsi, one of which had the joints considerably enlarged: E. C. Bedwell.—A living specimen of Omophlus betulae, Herbst, a beetle not known to occur in. Britain, found near Covent Garden, and probably, imported: O. E. Janson.-One ♂ and three ♀ ♀ of Agrion armatum taken this year by Mr. F. Balfour Browne, and sent to the exhibitor alive: W. J. Lucas.—Four specimens of the rare Acrognathus mandibularis, Gyll, captured on the wing towards sunset near Woking at the end of May: G. C. Champion.—Two aberrations of Beston hirtaria, Cl., both females, taken at rest on tree-trunks at Morte-hoe, North Devon, April 23: Selwyn Image. The first aberration was tolerably normal in general coloration, but the anterior half of the fore-wings was much suffused with fuscous, and at the costa was broadly emphasised with rich black. The second aberration was semi-transparent black all over both fore- and hind-wings, the veins strongly delineated with black, powdered with ochreous.—Empty pupa-cases of Zonosoma pendularia demonstrating the wide variation of methods in the placing of the silken girth round the pupa: W. J. Kaye.—Leaves of strawberry, Berberis japonica, and cherry-laurel which had been attacked by a minute fungus—in the case of the Berberis identified by Prof. S. H. Vines as Phyllosticta japonica, Thnem.: Prof. E. B. Poulton. The attack was local, leaving a roundish or oval window outlined with brown, sometimes in the form of a narrow line, sometimes spreading peripherally into the leaf for a greater or less distance. In the strawberry leaves the edges of the windows were somewhat ragged, but those of the other two leaves had smooth contours, and resembled strikingly the oval transparent areas upon the fore-wings of Kallima inachis, K. paralekta, &c. Prof. Poulton had believed that these “windows” of Kallima represented holes gnawed by larvæ, and that the altered marginal zone reproduced the effect of the attacks of fungi entering along the freshly exposed tissues of the edge. But he now desired to withdraw his earlier hypothesis in favour of the more probable and convincing suggestion made by Mr. Grove.—Photograph of the fungus-like marks on the wings of the Oriental Kallimas: Prof. Poulton.—The variability of the genitalia in Lepidoptera: Dr. Karl Jordan.—Scents in the male of Gonepteryx: Dr. G. B. Longstaff. It was mentioned that whereas in G. cleopatra ♀ the odour was strong, the author had been unable to detect any appreciable fragrance in G. rhamni ♀. Such a difference, he said, seemed to imply a physiological difference of the two forms pointing to specific distinction. Dr. F. A. Dixey, in connection with Dr. Longstaff's observations, exhibited and explained the several forms of Gonepteryx occurring in the Palæarctic region.—The geographical affinities of Japanese butterflies: H. J. Elwes. Summing up his remarks, the author said that during the winter and spring months the plants and insects of Japan were, like the climate, Palæarctic in character, yet during the summer and autumn they were tropical.—New African Lasiocampidæ in the British Museum: Prof. C. Aurivilius.—Memoir on the Rhynchota taken by Dr. Wyllie chiefly in Beira and Lifù: G. W Kirkaldy.