SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 309 



developsd mandibles, while two others were flying around, but were 

 evidently terrorised when they came close by the first. At a small 

 hole in the nest could be seen an imago cutting its way out, which the 

 first male was guarding. This supposed female was seized by the 

 male immediately on emergence, but was lost in the attempt at capture. 

 Other male wasps appeared subsequently, and two were secured, but 

 neither of them possessed such enormous mandibles as the first one. 

 The species is Siinai/ris cornuta. It was suggested that these growths 

 are a disadvantage in obtaining food, etc., and that while the individuals 

 with larger processes have the advantage at the beginning through 

 sexual selection, the individuals with much less developed mandibles 

 have the advantage later, from the greater facility the}' possess in 

 obtaining food and prolonging their life ; of course assuming that the 

 emergence of the females covers a sufficiently long period. 



Professor Poulton, in a short paper, dealt with the various inter- 

 pretations given by authors to the word " Mutation," as applied to 

 variation in species. Waagen, in 1869, used the term to express a 

 simultaneous and probably gradual change in a relatively large propor- 

 tion of the individuals of a species. De Vries uses the term " mutation " 

 to express a single discontinuous variation, and asserts that evolution 

 progresses discontinuously by means of "mutations." Baieson, 

 Punnett, Shipley, and others have placed emphasis upon these 

 mutations with the added idea that they are permanent and trans- 

 missible. In conclusion various practical suggestions were made as to 

 how the existing hopeless confusion in regard to the significance of 

 this term could be set right. 



Several other papers were read but details of them are not to hand. 

 Sir George Kenrick discussed " The Classification of Pierines," Mr. W. 

 Bowater gave an address on the " Heredity of Melanism in the Lepi- 

 doptera," and Mr. J. L. Wadsworth communicated a paper " On the 

 Oviposition of a Trypetid Fly on Centanrea ninra." 



Next year the i\Ieeting will be held in Australia, and the President- 

 elect is Prof. W. Bateson, F.R.S. It was also agreed that in the 

 following year, 1915, the meeting should take place in Manchester. 



(Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker and Mr. R. S. Bagnall have kindly 

 furnished most of the details from which the above report has been 

 compiled.j— H. J. T. 



.SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Coloration Problem. — I have only just seen the series of 

 articles by Mr. Parkinson Curtis on the " The Coloration Problem," 

 which have been appearing in the Entoiunlogisfti. Beconl daring the 

 last few months, and as I am leaving England for a turn of foreign 

 service in a few days, I have not only no time to reply to them, even 

 had I wished to do so, which is doubtful as I dislike argument, but no 

 time to study them. I can only thank Mr. Curtis for this extremely 

 interesting article and for his own observations. I hope he is not 

 under the impression that I consider all mimetic resemblances to be 

 the result of climatic or geographical conditions, as that would be 

 distinctly erroneous ; neither do I consider either the Batesian or 

 Miillerian hypothesis as " bad." On the contrary I recognise their 

 value as working hypotheses, but I cannot, for reasons I have else- 



