THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 47 



communicated " Descriptions of New Genera and Species of 

 Pselaphidae and Scydma^nidaj from Australia and New 

 Zealand," The paper* contained descriptions of forty-four 

 new species, three of them belonging to the family Scydmge- 

 nidae. Of the forty-one species of Pselaphidae, twenty-six 

 were from Australia and fifteen from New Zealand, the latter 

 being the first specimens of Pselaphidae that had, as yet, been 

 obtained from New Zealand. He believed that the islands 

 would prove to be rich in Pselaphidae, and alluded to the 

 great scientific importance of an accurate knowledge of the 

 New Zealand fauna, and to the special importance of gaining 

 as rapidly as possible a knowledge of the existing Coleoptera, 

 as such knowledge would contribute largely to the solution 

 of many important scientific questions; and, as a large pro- 

 portion of the species were confined to small areas of 

 distribution, there was great reason to fear they would be 

 easily exterminated, and thus the fauna itself would disappear 

 with the changes caused by colonization and the cultivation 

 of the soil. 



Protective Colouring in Pupa. — Mr. Darwin communicated 

 a paper containing remarks by Mrs. Barber, of Griqualand, 

 South Africa, on the colour of the pupa of Papilio Nireus, in 

 connection with the surroundings of its place of attachment, 

 the pupa appearing to assume a protective resemblance to the 

 surface to which it is fixed, and suggesting that some photo- 

 graphic influence might be at work. A discussion ensued, in 

 which Prof. Westwood, Mr. M'Lachlan, and others, took 

 part; and Mr. Meldola remarked, in reply to Mr. M'Lachlan, 

 that the action of light upon the sensitive skin of a pupa had 

 no analogy with its action on any known photographic 

 chemical. No known substance retained permanently the 

 colour reflected on it by adjacent objects. Mr. Meldola 

 further observed that there was no diflSculty in believing that 

 larvae might become affected in colour by the colouring 

 matter of the food-plant, since chlorophyll in an unaltered 

 condition had been found in the tissues of green larvae. 

 Facts of this nature did not, however, exclude the possibility 

 of the action of Natural Selection in such cases, for the 

 property of showing the colour of the tissues through the 

 skin, if of advantage to the species, would be preserved 

 through this agency. 



