xu 



might be considered thread-bare ' — to quote the opening words of 

 the article referred to. But ' it had always been treated from a 

 purely insular point of view,' and Mr. Dobree took up the subject 

 once more, ' to examine it from the broader basis of its bearing on 

 European insects generally.' 



The facts adduced by Mr. Dobree from a comparison of the 

 geographical forms exhibited by the Noctuae in his collection put 

 the subject in an entirely new light, and certainly ' tended to dis- 

 prove more than one of the theories which then passed current ' 

 among British entomologists. 



How valuable were the results attending Mr. Dobree's keen 

 study of the European Noctuae is well shown in the following 

 extracts from Mr. J. W. Tutt's ' Melanism and Melanochroism 

 in British Lepidoptera,' written in 1891 : — 



' In these discussions [on the origin and distribution of melan- 

 ism], the subject was generally treated from an insular point of 

 view, until Mr. Dobree (' Entomologist,' xx., pp. 25-28) en- 

 deavoured, by comparing our melanic forms with the forms of 

 the same species obtained on the Continent, to correlate the 

 facts obtained, and to show the real relation that not only our 

 melanic, but also our ordinary forms, bore to the Palaearctic 

 lepidopterous fauna, and to deduce reasons for the melanism 

 so prevalent in our British forms.' ... 



' Our greatest authority on Continental Noctuae, Mr. N. F. 

 Dobree, wrote an article (' Entomologist,' xx., pp. 25-28), pre- 

 viously referred to, disproving the general notion that melanism 

 was characteristic of high latitudes, and pointing out the follow- 

 ing facts : — 



(i) That melanism scarcely ever occurred in such latitudes ; 



(2) That, at any latitude, dry open areas produced more 

 brightly and clearly marked forms of lepidoptera ; and 



(3) That the North of Europe produced, practically, no 

 melanic forms, neither did the South, but that the melanism 

 of the Continent was confined almost entirely to certain Alpine 

 districts. ' 



Mr. Dobree used in former days to attend regularly the excur- 

 sions of the Yorkshire Naturahsts' Union, and Mr. G. T. Porritt, 

 who knew him well, has described him as being one of the most 

 pleasant and genial companions in field work. For several years 

 he was accustomed to write the Reports for the Entomological 

 Section on the occasion of these excursions, and during the years 

 1881 to 1886 he was the President of the Hull Field Naturalists' 

 Society, delivering a Presidential Address on the subject of 

 Variation in Lepidoptera. 



In the year 1890 Mr. Dobree was elected a Fellow of the Ento- 

 mological Society of London, but he resigned this honour in the 

 following year. 



