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Show 1886.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON XEMA SABINII. 81 wing being forked beyond the middle. In a paper in the ' Proceedings,' for 1870, pp. 777-8, I recorded similar modifications of the first subcostal branch in the hind wings of Acrcea andromacha, and in ' Lepidoptera Exotica' I described and figured modifications of the upper radial in the front wings of Morpho sulkowskyi (p. 113a, pi. xlii. figs. 1, la): the case of A. hippia, however, is more interesting, as it exhibits, in a partial manner, a low type of venation in which two radial veins are present in place of one, and thus tends (so far as this character is concerned) to support Mr. Bates's view of the affinity of the Papilionidce to the Heterocera : it would be still more interesting if it could be shown that the Hesperiidce showed a greater tendency to reproduce the same vein. The larva of A. hippia, judging from a nearly full-grown specimen preserved in spirit, presented by the Society to the Museum, has rather the aspect of some of the shorter-haired larvae of the Arctiidce than of what one would expect in the caterpillar of a butterfly ; this, again, seems to point to a nearer relationship between the Papilionidce and the Heterocera than one sees in the Nymphalidce: the larva above referred to is of a dull flesh-colour, with lateral and dorsal series of conspicuous black spots, the head, first dorsal segment, and anal claspers black \ the third, fourth, and twelfth segments clothed with dense rust-red hair down to the lateral series of black spots, the second segment(first dorsal) and head clothed with stiff, porrected, greyish hairs, and the remaining segments with pale testaceous hair : the pupa is either bright gamboge-yellow or cream-coloured, mottled and spotted with black, in some specimens differing in no respect from that of A. cratceyi in pattern, but frequently with the black markings united into bands and patches. February 2, 1886, Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks upon a skin of a Pheasant from the Persian borders of Transcaucasia, which appeared to be referable to the true Phasianus colchicus. Mr. C. A. Wright exhibited a specimen of a Dove from Malta, which seemed to be a semi-albino variety of Turtur auritus. Mr. Sclater exhibited, on behalf of Mr. W. H. Dobie, 22 Upper Northgate Street, Chester, a young specimen of Sabine's Gull (Xema sabinii). Mr. Dobie stated that the bird had been shot at Mostyn on the coast of Flintshire, North Wales, in a field adjoining the shore, by Mr. John Williams, who watched it for some hours before he was able to obtain a shot. It was quite alone and did not 1 In a beautiful coloured drawing submitted to me by Mr. Thomson, the claspers are represented as flesh-tinted at the sides, a probable variation. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1886, No. VI. 6 |
