172 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



Melanism in Lepidoptera. 



By J. W. TUTT. 

 I have read with great interest Mr. Morley's note {a)itea) on the 

 melanismoi Larentia nniltistrii/ana, and quite agree with him that further 

 detailed knowledge is very desirable as to its distribution, its spread, 

 and the possible period of its existence. A careful perusal of his 

 paper, and one's knowledge of the district, and what has been recently 

 written as to its increase in recent years in certain districts, leads one 

 to the following conclusions: — (1) That on the exposed bleak hilltops, 

 where the species rests on "the cold, damp, black clay" — for one 

 must assume it rested on the ground, ere humans built stone walls, 

 and rests there now for that matter, although better seen on the walls 

 — the melanism is of great antiquity, and of the same kind as that 

 occurring locally in various species — G)iopho.s obscurata, Xylnphada 

 monofflypha, etc., and dealt with at length in Melaniwi ami Mdaii- 

 ochroism in lyritish LepidopUra, pp. 19-21, etc. In such places, at 

 any rate, a strong tendency to melanism is within the ordinary varia- 

 tional limits of the species. That specimens, having this tendency 

 strongly developed, spread considerably into the surrounding areas 

 and cross with those in which it is less marked, our knowledge of the 

 liability to distribution in certain species, leads lis to assume, and one 

 may suppose that the inherent melanic tendency, rarely exhibited, 

 probably, in some districts, exists throughout the whole area referred 

 to by Mr. Morley. On the other hand, in such districts as those 

 mentioned recently by Mr. Porritt, in the neighbourhood of Crosland, 

 Meltham, etc., where the melanism has rapidly increased of late years, 

 and is still increasing, one might suspect that an entirely different set 

 of varying environmental influences have set free the latent possibili- 

 ties within the species, and produced melanism of an entirely different 

 kind, viz., the melanism exhibited by Ainpliidasys hetularia, TepJimtiia 

 crcpuHcidaria (bixtortata), and other species, that we have dealt with at 

 great length in Mdcntis)/) and Mdanncliroisui, etc., pp. 12 ct ^eq. 

 In our opinion, an exactly similar double parallel exists in the variations 

 of Buarmia repandata, where, however, one form of the species is fre- 

 quently not melanic, i.e., one form is old, due to the natural environ- 

 ment of a rock-resting habit, the other comparatively new, due to the 

 changed local conditions brought to bear on a wall- and trunk-resting 

 habit, during the last half or three-quarters of a century. 



Pupal Skin of Chrysophanus phlaeas {nith /date). 



By Dk. T. a. chapman. 



After examining the remarkable sculpturing and structure of the 

 pupal skin of Thestor halliis, which is not more remarkable or com- 

 plicated than that of many other pup.e, but is of quite a special 

 character amongst the few pupal skins I have carefully examined in 

 the same way, it occurred to me that some other Lycfenid pupa would 

 also prove to be an interesting object. The first one I took in hand 

 was that of <Vu-ysophaniis phlaeas, and this one is, if anything, more 

 unusual in its character than that of T. hallns. 



In Thestor hallns everything appears solid, but there is a peculiar 

 and complex structure of what are either hair-bases or skin-points, in 



