1903 Correspondence 1X7 



thinks that copies of the report and resolutions may be useful to kindred 

 societies in starting them upon a consideration of the questions, and it 

 has decided that such copies shall be sent to these societies. 



If any resolutions are passed by these societies on the question of an 

 amendment of the laws, and are sent to the secretary of the committee 

 referred to (\V. L. Mellersh, M.A., The Gryphons, Cheltenham), they 

 shall be forwarded to Mr Druce, for the framers of the Bill, upon his 

 return from the Ionian Isles. 



At the meeting of the club only a general resolution as to amending 

 the law was passed, since the club considered that there were not a 

 sufficient number of landowners present to justify the passing, then and 

 there, of proposals as to such amendments in detail. The club further 

 considered that a resolution on the subject should be a general one, un- 

 less the details as to any proposals could be carefully considered at a 

 very full meeting of members, since the definition of wholesale profes- 

 sional plant-stealers, and the basis for a selection of areas to be protected, 

 are questions greatly affecting the interests of landowners. 



C. Callaway, D.Sc. 



President of the Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club. 



Animal Colouring in Winter.—" The following incident may throw 

 some light on the suggestion made by Mr Beddard in the last issue of 

 the F. N. Q., to the effect that food may have some influence on animal 

 colouring in winter. 



" I had a variegated plant which seemed pot-bound, and accordingly 

 put it in a larger pot with fresh soil. To my disgust all the new leaves 

 were entirely green. I consulted a specialist, who told me that I had 

 fed it too well, and advised me to soak the plant in water so as to re- 

 move most of the soil, and feed it on water only. ' Starve it and it will 

 not have the strength to form the green colouring matter,' was his idea. 



"It is evident that the manufacture of pigment must be at the expense 

 of a certain amount of nutriment, and if this process is checked, then 

 either the creature can live on less food, or if food be plentiful, the vital 

 forces can be turned into more useful channels. 



" In the arctic winter probably scent will not carry far, and a brown 

 bird would be seen sooner than winded by the fox ; hence the white 

 ptarmigan gains by its colour. On the other hand, the fox, hunting up 

 the wind for scent, would be sooner detected by the bird, which by 

 instinct watches down wind and trusts to scent to reveal the presence of 

 enemies in the other direction — if its coat were not in harmony with the 

 snow. 



"As to piebaldness being fatal, I do not think that a brown-and-white 

 bird would be easy to see if lying low in a country where the tops of 

 rocks or of heather show above the snow ; and even in a country 

 covered with snow the surface is not all absolutely flat, and there are 

 lights and shades. 



"As a rule, I believe, the vital force which in summer forms pigment 

 is in winter utilised to form the thicker under-covering of down or fur 

 which protects the bodies of most creatures in that season." — ERNEST 

 A. ELLIOTT, 41 Holland Park, London. 



