53 



Disciíssioii. 



H. Skinner called attention to the fact that E. B. Poulton 

 had created an interest in the subject of mimicry in America. 

 His address several years ago in Baltimore, which had been pub- 

 Hshed in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, was 

 a valuable contribution to the subject. Through his cft"ort> 

 American entomologists had taken up the problems, and it was 

 very likely that valuable observations would come from America 

 that might help to solve some of the laws of Nature in this relation. 

 The S. American butterfly fauna was a most promising one, and 

 should be carefully examined in conjunction with those of Africa 

 and other countries. 



F. Wichgraf, in support of the facts brought before them by 

 Prof. Poulton, remarked that the female form of mi sip pits in 

 S. Africa mimicking D. dor ip pus showed that the model which 

 was no longer to be found in S. Africa had formerly existed there. 



R. C. L. Perkins read a paper entitled : 



The Colour Groups of Hawahan Wasps. 

 (No manuscript received. — Editors.) 



Discussion. 



The Hon. W. Rothschild remarked that the extermination 

 or disappearance of the natural enemies, birds and lizards, was not 

 entirely due to man, but the natural exhaustion of the proto- 

 plasm was the cause of our now seeing only the evolutionary 

 result in these wasps, and no longer the cause, or indirect cause. 



Rev. F. D. MoRiCE said that practically all the European 

 wasps belonged to one of Dr. Perkins's groups, the black striped 

 with yellow. Crossing the Mediterranean we immediatel}' came 

 to other types of colour, e.g. unicolorous yellow, mostly in the 

 great sandy deserts, deep black with black wings, the typically 

 Synagrid pattern of orange-based black abdomen, etc. He ex- 

 pressed his personal conviction that some of these phenomena 

 were certainly due to " adjustment to surroundings " (cryptic) 

 and others to " Miillerian association." 



E. B. Poulton said that they must all hav^e been greatly 

 interested in hearing Dr. Perkins's paper on a subject he had 



