1 66 The hish Naturalist. June, 



argument on this subject too far. I say these bright colours — 

 apart from what is called Sexual Selection — are means to a 

 definite end ; they are means by which cock birds impress 

 certain lessons on one another, and if they do not help a bird 

 to win his plot of ground, they, at any rate, render his sub- 

 sequent possession of it less liable to disturbance. In other 

 words, it appears to me a general conclusion from the facts 

 on which I have sought to lay stress, that those effects which 

 are commonly ascribed to Sexual Selection are capable of 

 being explained by a form of Natural Selection, and that 

 Natural Selection — on the other hand — does not, so far as birds 

 are concerned, require, as Darwin took for granted, a whole- 

 sale annihilation of the weaker young, but can, and probably 

 does, largely work b}^ condemning to unproductiveness the 

 less powerful adults. 



Ballyhyland, Wexford. 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 

 The Leaf-Marking of Arum maculatum. 



In connection with the subject of Ivcaf-marking in Arum in h-ish 

 Naturalist, herewith find enclosed plant Ironi Bra}'. Referring to the 

 lacerated state of the specimen, I may remark the damage was done in 

 exactly twenty-four hours by a pair cA Mcloe violacea that I turned loose 

 into the vasculum. The missing portion, including 3-4 inches of succulent 

 stem, besides flowers of Nepeta Glechoma and leaves of Stellaria Holostea, was 

 actually eaten in that time, showing what depredations a few of these 

 beetles are capable of. When taken they were feeding voraciously 

 on the foliage of Ranunculus acris, within a couple of feet of each 

 other. 



W. BA1.F0UR Bruce. 



Bray. 



[The specimens sent include two leaves of the usual spotted form, the 

 blotches being flat, and what is of greater interest, a young spathe that 

 is similarly spotted, being the first time, I believe, that spotted inflores- 

 cence has been actually noticed in Ireland. — R. LI. P.] 



