specific modifications of Japan Carabi. 507 



the action of sun-rays during diurnal exposure. As a 

 phase of natural selection, I could perhaps conceive an 

 offspring of resplendent lustre, as the result in time, of 

 the male preferring a bright female, if natural selection 

 could in that way originate it. But unless colour is 

 caused by sun-rays, or originates under its action, how 

 do the first tints appear ? 



In connection with the subject of sexual selection, I 

 will not here discuss the nature of the eye in Carabus, 

 the structure of which is, I consider, an insuperable 

 hindrance to its appreciation of colour. But I will 

 touch on what we all know from a very casual observa- 

 tion of the habits of the lower animals. We know, that 

 when the season of mating commences, there is an eager- 

 ness of object, which leaves little room for discrimination 

 of any kind. Those of us who make companions of the 

 canine family know this, and Lepidopterists have seen 

 moths, fresh from the pupa, almost mechanically entering 

 on their relations together. And when bright-coloured 

 males of birds combat in the spring, they are fighting 

 for a female, not for the privilege of selecting a favourite 

 in a series. 



The Buprestidce, although of a more recent date than 

 the oldest vegetation, are found in the fossil state, and 

 there are, I believe,- evidences in well-substantiated facts, 

 that this family are amongst the earliest of known 

 beetle forms. What happens, then, in colour in this 

 family, a family we know has passed through epochs of 

 evolution ? Do we find in them protective colouring ? 

 In the Buprestidce we have diurnal beetles of the most 

 lovely colours and unclouded lustre, and a vast time can 

 be allotted to them to allow their brilliancy to culminate 

 in its present perfection, and in no other group do we 

 see less of that which is called protective colouring, for 

 they excel in conspicuousness all other beetles. I believe, 

 although I cannot aftirm it on my own observation, that 

 Buprestidce. infest palms ; and palms are older than any 

 flowering shrubs, and, with the exception of a Cur- 

 ctdio or two, hardly support any other insect-life. 

 Buprestidce, too, are of very simple structure — a cylin- 

 drical body without any particularly specialised parts : 

 all^this points to an antiquity at least equal to any known 

 in other groups, and in no other family do we see less 

 protective colour. It may be urged that the larvae feed 

 in the interior of trees, and are protected from enemies 



