170 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



ever ready to assist with his stores of knowledge, and he would 

 generously offer his hospitality, and invite his friends and correspon- 

 dents to Grenthod, his picturesque villa on the shores of the beautiful 

 Lac Leman. He was a great man of science, and many notices have 

 appeared, and will appear, recounting his life and work, but, from the 

 nature of things, few of such notices will be written by men who knew 

 him intimately, or even personally. Let us hope that someone who 

 Avas his contemporary, who knew him well and understood him, will 

 give us a detailed and sympathetic account of this distinguished man 

 of science, who had travelled, seen, read, and worked so much for so 

 many years. — M.B. 



Notes on the Melanism of Larentia multistrigaria in tlie neigh= 

 bourhood of Skelmantliorpe (Huddersfield). 



By B. MOELEY. 



On the high commons bordering the moors of the Southwest 

 Riding, Larentia nntlthtriiiaria has shown, of recent years, a very 

 decided tendency to melanism, but, so far as I am able to ascertain, 

 the phenomenon seems to be confined, at present, to the moor edges. 

 On the slopes of the Dearne watershed L. undtistrif/aria, during April 

 last, appeared plentifully, and quite half the specimens were more or 

 less melanic, many of them being quite black, except for a few grey 

 lines across the wings. The best melanic specimens come from a 

 bleak, open, wind-swept common, with scarcely any shelter, except 

 the rough sandstone-boulder walls which fence the fields. Here trees 

 are few, and very stunted, and there are no hedgerows. These slopes 

 are from 1000ft. to 1200ft. above sea-level, falling in an eastern direc- 

 tion, and the soil is a cold, damp, black clay. It is a curious fact 

 that, Avith these smoky forms, a very light grey form also occurs, and, 

 on favourable evenings, specimens of the different forms may be found 

 on the walls paired, apparently interbreeding Avith each other without 

 discrimination, and suggesting not only that tAvo separate races do not 

 exist, but that, in the near future, the race may become entirely melanic. 

 It seems highly probable that, in this district, the species is fast fol- 

 loAving JiiijthidafujK hetiilaria in its melanism, the latter species having, 

 as I am informed, changed in this locality Avithin about 25 years, from 

 the ordinary form to one almost black (only the head and a small dot 

 at the base of the foreAvings remaining white). I may add, howeA'er, 

 that, during the ten years that I have collected lepidoptera, I have 

 only found the form doubledaijaria. 



There are many West Riding species developing melanism, but I 

 knoAV of no other species Avhere this particular form of development is 

 confined to a locality, i.e., in this district, in every other species subject to 

 variation, any of the various varietal forms may, and do, occur where- 

 ever the species is found. With L. uiidtistriiiana this is not so at 

 present, for, on the slopes of the same A'alley, only four or fiA^e miles 

 distant from the melanic region, the species is abundant, but shows no 

 melanism whatever. 



With regard to the distribution of the species and its habitats in 

 this district, there are, besides Avhat I have called the melanic region, 

 A^arious localities in AA'hich it occurs, viz., (1) East of the melanic region on 

 the south side of the A'alley, for about six miles, the hillside gradually 



