Sept., iyo3.] PACKARD: CoLOR- PREFERENCE IN INSECTS 135 



At Sugar Hill, N. H., while sitting on the hotel piazza, Septem- 

 ber 14, 1 90 1, I noticed that the numerous house flies i)resent alighted 

 by dozens on my daughter's dress, which was of homespun dyed 

 red and black, though the prevailing color was a madder or dark 

 Indian red. Nearly fifty flies would come and alight within one or 

 two minutes. On drawing a steamer rug, which was of a light faun 

 color, over the dress, very few flies alighted on it, only one or two 

 dozen. Also many alighted on my dark blue striped flannel trousers. 

 On another occasion from fifteen to twenty flies alighted on a brown 

 woolen dress, but none on a light gray waist. On still another occa- 

 sion I noticed house flies gathering on a lady's black dress, while but one 

 or two settled on the white towel next to it. A number rested on a 

 dark lavender-colored shawl she was knitting, showing that they de- 

 cidedly preferred lavender color to white. 



I am told by a lady that the ribbon on her hat which was butter- 

 yellow, and also of another shade of yellow, became so badly speckled 

 that it had to be taken off, while white ribbon was not spotted. Her 

 pale bright green dress, as she was sitting on the piazza, was literally 

 covered with flies ; indeed she took the flies away from all the other 

 people sitting near by. The flies did not rest on a lavender-colored 

 dress. 



Mr. J. F. Collins, of Brown University, tells me that he noticed 

 that a lady wearing a black silk gown was attended by "swarms of 

 house flies." He also states that a number of black flies {Si/>iii/ii/»i) 

 and mosquitoes alighted on his own person dressed in a black suit, 

 while they did not alight on a man standing by who was wearing a 

 white sweater. 



In his notes on flower-haunting Diptera, read before the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London, Mr. Scott- Elliot shows that some of the 

 higher types of flies appeared to prefer red and blue flowers. 



Color-preference in the Mosquito. — In continuation of their researches on the 

 structure and biology of Anopheles maculipcnnis^ the commonest British mosquito and 

 one known to convey malaria, Dr. Nuttall and Mr. A. E. Shipley observed some in- 

 teresting facts on the preference this species exhibits for different colors and for dif- 

 ferent shades of color. The experiments were conducted as follows : In a spacious 

 photographic studio a large muslin tent was set up with one end against the glass 

 window through which the sunlight poured. At the bottom of the tent were some 

 large pans for the Anopheles to breed in, and these were from time to time renewed. 

 The mosquitoes were fed on bananas, which, it may be noted, must be kept fairly 

 fresh, otherwise dates or figs are preferable. On one side of the tent seventeen boxes 



