186 I'Avigiist, 



lias, however, often been observed to be characteristic of Lepido^Hera 

 frequenting damp localities where there is an unusual number of wet 

 and cloudy days, and this is observable in Hie case of insects found 

 in the extreme south and on the west coast of the South Island of 

 New Zealand, where the rainfall is notoriously heavy and frequent. 

 Varieties from these locaHties are much more richly and deeply 

 coloured than those from the drier Eastern and Northern portions of 

 the Dominion ; the colouring of the numerous forms which imitate 

 moss and lichens being most vivid and beautiful in Western and 

 Southern specimens. 



A very simple explanation can, I think, be given to this form of 

 melanism. After i*ain, the tree trunks are very much darker in colour 

 than w^hen dry, and the colouring of the mosses and lichens growing 

 on the tree trunks is also much more vivid during wet weather than 

 during periods of drought. A pale insect resting on a dark tree trunk 

 is easily seen and caj^tured by an insectivorus enemy, whilst a dark 

 insect will escape detection. The same remarks apply to those species 

 resembling vividly coloured mosses and lichens growing on the damp 

 trees. It has been stated that melanism is very prevalent amongst 

 LepidoiAera found in the vicinity of the large manufacturing towns in 

 England, and I take it that this is due to the superior protection 

 afforded to the insects by a dark coloration, when at rest on fences 

 and tree trunks wdiich have been more or less blackened through the 

 presence of large quantities of coal smoke in the atmosphere. 



Hence it appears to me that, through the direct influence of 

 natural selection, melanism is eminently favourable to the survival of 

 insects frequenting damp, cloudy, or smoky localities. 



Hillview, Karori, Wellington, 

 New Zealand : 



Aiyril 30th, 1913. 



The British Cryptobia. — Synonymical Note. — In the notice of Cri/^t obi wm pub- 

 lished last month (p. 150) tliere appears an error that was corrected in the proof, 

 but remains in the published article (perhaps owing to some confusion due to the 

 simultaneous absence of the two Coleopterous editors). It is stated that Paykull 

 gives no reason for substituting the name J'racticornc for that of the previous gla- 

 herrimum. lie does, however, give a reason by saying tliat when examined with 

 a lens the insect is not " glaherrimuni." In Fowler's " Col. Britisli Islands," II, 

 p. 306, the name glaherrimum is used, Herbst being given as the author ; but 

 Fowler applies the name to the other species, not to the one called fracticorne by 

 Paykull and the Continental authors. The confusion is veiy great, and I may 

 therefore repeat that I suggest that the long-winged form be called glaberrimum, 

 and ovu' common form brevipeime. — D. Sharp, Brockenhurst : July nth, 1913. 



