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XXII. A supplementary note on the specific modifications 

 of Japan Carabi, and some observations on the 

 mechanical action of solar rays in relation to colour 

 during the evolution of species. By George Lewis. 



[Read October 4th, 1882.] 



The paper I now offer to the Society was commenced in 

 August to illustrate the climatical variations to which 

 Carabi in Japan are subject, but the consideration of the 

 relations of light to colour has crept into the article, 

 and I have thought it well to leave the two subjects 

 ■ together, as they are closely connected, rather than 

 separate them now. The paper is not scientific in any 

 higher sense of the term than that attained by common 

 observation ; but perhaps later on I can refer to the sub- 

 ject of colour more fully. I hope there is something in 

 the notes sufficiently tangible to incite discussion, if 

 nothing more. 



In the December number of the ' Entomological 

 Monthly Magazine,' 1880, I described the peculiar geo- 

 graphical position of the Japanese islands, and gave 

 some account of the climates of those regions in which 

 the different species of Damaster originate, and I en- 

 deavoured succinctly to show that " in tracing Damaster 

 from the south to the north, species became smaller, and 

 step by step modified in form, with colour appearing 

 the higher they go either in altitude or latitude." And 

 I also pointed out that Damaster became diurnal in the 

 north, where the warmth of sunshine was essential to 

 it, and that with diurnal habits bright colours followed, 

 according to the usually acknowledged laws of evolution. 

 For as we ourselves fail to discern the fading colours of 

 a landscape as night sets in, so Nature fails to per- 

 petuate colour in nocturnal insects, colour itself being 

 dependent on light-rays. 



The colours of insects are often set down rather in- 

 definitely to natural selection, in which sexual preference 

 for beauty is supposed to be a considerable element ; for 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1882. — PART IV. (DEC.) 3 U 



