NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 2l 



. The wings were vibrating so quickly that you could scarcely notice 

 lem moving at all, and the long hairs on its body stood straight out 

 1 round along each side and across behind the body, making it more 

 tsy for the wings to bear it up. It did not alight upon a flower, but 

 st inserted its long trunk while on the wing ; and as it flew from 

 )wer to flower the trunk protruded an inch or more. The most 

 irious thing was the way the moth selected flowers of a particular 

 lour. There were two rows of Violas about ten yards long, one on 

 ,ch side of a walk three feet wide ; the insect at once chose a sort of 

 earn- or straw-coloured one, known as " Pilrig-park," and completely 

 nored all the other colours, such as blue, purple, black, and yellow, 

 went to work in a very systematic way, beginning at one end of the 

 ilk, where the Viola "Pilrig-park" was growing, and going over 

 ost of the flowers, but never even trying one of which the edges of 

 e petals were turned up, showing that the flower had served its 

 irpose and was beginning to decay ; but it went over every flower 

 at was fully open, or even beginning to open ; and after it had been 

 3ug the whole line it turned back and tried them again, but quickly 

 cognised the fact that there was nothing more to be got out of them, 

 le eye could scarcely follow the insect now, as, after it had tried 

 ree or four flowers, it made two or three wide circles ; then it tried 

 e common marigold {Caltha segetiun), but this did not suit it at all, as 

 only sampled one flower ; then it made another circle, flew over the 

 ill, and I knew I had seen the last of it. Now, what can there be 

 lOut this particular Viola more than any other to attract M. steUatarum? 

 le purple, lilac, and black shades seemed all equally good, and yet 

 e insect never touched one of them. There is no doubt that the 

 Pilrig-park " variety has a vigorous constitution, coming earlier into 

 oom than many other Violas, and also holding on longer ; but even 

 is very thing would give it its robust habit. All the flowers the 

 sect visited would be cross-fertilised, and if I had gathered the seed 

 5m these cross-fertilised flowers they would have had a more vigorous 

 ibit than the parent plant, or the self-fertihsed flowers which the 

 sect rejected. I know that M. stellatanim visits single geraniums, 

 ; but here there was a whole bed of double ones, and it never even 

 aked at them. Mr. Speirs caught a specimen while at his window- 

 IX of pale pink single geraniums ; and I saw one at a scarlet variety, 

 30 in a window. (Abstract of a paper read before the South of Scot- 

 ud Entomological and Natural History Society, October 5th, 1893, by 

 r. Shaw, President.) 



The Melanism Contro\'erby. — Mr. Dale, quoting my statement 

 at I do not know of any Pihopalocera in the British Islands remark- 

 ile for melanochroic tendencies, seems to overlook that I refer to 

 iiopalocera only, and that my remarks were apropos to the suggestion 

 at in countries with defect of sunshine (such as the British Islands) 

 irk coloration would be advantageous, and consequently fostered by 

 btural selection. That theory rests on a wholly different basis from 

 at underlying the well-known phenomena of adaptive coloration, 

 tiich therefore were not alluded to. My limited knowledge of the 

 iiopalocera certainly, so far as it goes, quite bears out Mr. Dale's 

 )inion that the Rhopalocera are not without examples of pale 



