OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XII, lillU. 45 



against this theory. Mr. Piepers is of course aware that the 

 theory of mimicry does not imply any conscious or purposive 

 action of the organisms themselves, or the action of any ex- 

 terior guiding force, unless the process of 'survival of the 

 fittest' can be considered such certainly no conscious force. 

 Yet we cannot but suspect that some such subconscious idea 

 is at the bottom of his rather violent opposition. His labored 

 efforts, for example, to explain the eye-like markings of the 

 larva: 1 of certain SphiugidcC without recourse to the mimetic as- 

 sumption that these resemble the vertebrate eye certainly sound 

 most strained, and his explanation takes no account of the man- 

 ner in which these markings are used by the animals them- 

 selves. In fact, if one considers the habits associated with 

 mimetic markings in general, the adequacy and truth of the 

 theory are perfectly obvious, at least in its main features. 

 Naturally the theory does not seek to explain variability or 

 change in organisms, but only the preservation of accidentally 

 advantageous resemblances, from whatever cause arising. 

 When we consider, for instance, the larva of Herse cingulata 

 Fab., the green form of which rests upon the leaves, while the 

 brown form frequents the stems of its food plant near the 

 ground, it seems absurd to claim that this coloration is not of 

 use to the insect, is not mimetic of the environment, but due 

 to a certain law of evolution of color, which Mr. Piepers 

 claims to be operative. Similar examples could be multiplied 

 ad infinitum, and the logic of the mimetic theory appears to 

 us secure. The most charitable explanation seems to be that 

 Mr. Piepers is fighting a chimera of his own construction. 



"We hope that the defects above noted may be corrected in 

 the forthcoming parts of this work upon the other families of 

 butterflies of Java, for Mr. Piepers' valuable fund of know- 

 ledge of the subject ought to be recorded in the most fitting 

 and useful manner possible." 



-Ntr. Heidemann exhibited some hemipterous insects and 

 gave the following notes concerning them: 



" Some years ago, early in spring, my attention was aroused 

 by seeing numerous white spots on the trunk and branches of 



