244 [November, 



been observed there, the results of a visit to Hyeres in 1904. In 1905 

 I obtained the species also from several Italian localities, and bred it 

 from the egg from Hyeres specimens. The notes for that season 

 appear in the Ent. Trans, for 1906, part IT. In presenting here my 

 experiences of the species for 1906, I pro])ose first to give a precis of 

 the notes in the Ent. Trans., so as to make the record in the 

 Ent. Mo. Mag. more continuous, and this I am more glad to do as I 

 Have obtained the permission of the Entomological Society to re- 

 produce here the plate of the imagines from their Transactions, the 

 plate in Ent. Mo. Mag. for 1905 being by no means satisfactory. 



The chief point in the 1905 observations was to show that H. 

 hyerana had a special facies in each of the localities in w^hich I had 

 found it, and that the melanic phase so prominent amongst my first 

 series of specimens from Hyeres was no accidental result of my treat- 

 ment of the larva or pupa, but characterised the race as now existent 

 at that locality. A result of great interest, as there is no doubt that 

 fifty years ago no melnnic specimens occurred there. Since I first 

 called attention (Ent. Mo. Mag., 1888, p. 40) to the fact that melanism 

 in Lepidoptera is in a large proportion of instances a case of protective 

 coloration, a view^ now% 1 think, accepted almost as a truism, and 

 suggested that the dark objects to which melanic races assimilated 

 were often dark, because frequently wet, and constantly more or less 

 damp, and in certain districts owing to deposited carbon, a great deal 

 of interest has arisen in regard to "progressive melanism." The case 

 of H. hyerana is of importance as an instance of progressive melanism, 

 where the explanation applicable to so many other instances, viz., the 

 increasing extent of " black country," is clearly inapplicable, and is 

 the more interesting and deserves more research, because, so far, no 

 at all plausible explanation is supported by any definite evidence. It 

 seems, therefore, to be desirable that all available facts should be 

 recorded in hope of some of them being found to point to a satis- 

 factory solution. 



In 1905 I found H. hyerana2id larv at Taormina, Sicily. At this 

 station the plants are much less vigorous and succulent than at 

 Hyeres, though abundant enough in several localities. Probably 

 owing to this circumstance the larvae there are almost always only 

 one to a plant, and succeed very w^ell in hiding themselves amongst 

 the central leaves, quite unlike the conspicuous result of their more 

 or less gregarious life at Hyeres. They were also found to affect 

 other food plants, especially Phlomis fruticosus, which was almost an 

 alternative food plant. They were also found in Teucrium f rut leans, 



