, 
Proceedings. lv. 
work on “British Rainfall,” and the thanks of the meeting 
were accorded to Mr. Crowley for these gifts. 
Mr. E. Lovetr exhibited and described a female of the 
Drinker Moth (O potatoria) which he had bred from a cater- 
pillar, and which had all the distinctive colouring of the male 
of that species. He also exhibited and described male and 
female specimens of the same moth, with the normal colouring 
peculiar to the sexes. 
Mr. ALFRED Tytor, F.G.S., read a paper on ‘“ Colouriza- 
tion in Animals,” illustrated by a number of skins of various 
animals, and by numerous diagrams. After calling particular 
attention to the details and peculiarities of the skins exhibited, 
he contended that their colours were regulated chiefly by 
certain laws of ‘‘Emphasis” and ‘‘ Symbolism,” and that it 
was only in a secondary degree that they were made sub- 
servient to the purposes of protection or sexual excitement. 
Mr. ALFRED RussEL WALLACE, in commenting upon the 
views expressed by Mr. Tylor, said the subject which he had 
introduced was so vast that it would require an entire evening 
to go into it fully. It happened that he had a theory of his 
own, which did not agree with Mr. Tylor’s, and he could not 
very well express his views without referring to this theory. 
In order to explain the great varieties of colour which are to be 
seen in nature, it is necessary, in the first place, to consider 
the physical nature and origin of colour, for that is the founda- 
tion of the whole matter. It is now generally held that the 
colour of natural objects is a subjective phenomenon. The 
objects themselves are devoid of colour, but they each absorb 
some of the different coloured rays of which white light is 
composed, and reflect the other rays, and the object appears to 
be of the colour of the rays or mixture of rays which it re- 
flects. Thus green objects absorb the red rays and reflect the 
yellow and the blue, whilst purple objects absorb the yellow 
and reflect the red and the blue. The rays which each par- 
ticular object will absorb and reflect will depend upon the 
nature and constitution and size of the molecules of which it 
is made up; and any alteration in these, from any cause, will 
probably produce a corresponding alteration in the colour. 
As there is every conceivable variety in the molecular struc- 
ture of different bodies in nature, there is, necessarily, every 
variety of colour. Some colours, or groups of colours, are much 
more abundant than others, but, as a rule, in the animal 
world, obscure colours predominate. 
Mr. Wat.aceE stated that the conclusion at which he had 
arrived was, that, primarily, there is no reason why any animal 
should be of any particular colour. It may be ofany colour, and 
as a matter of fact, every possible variety of colour does exist in 
