( xxii ) 



" Secondly, there are, 1 submit, among the flower and fruit 

 frequenters themselves, a very large proportion of dull, sombre- 

 coloured forms. On running over the species of ' Lamellicornia 

 Melitophila ' — in other words, the CetoniadcB in the widest sense 

 of the term — described in Burmeister's great work, I find no 

 fewer than 192 species which are black, grey, drab, fawn-colour, 

 dirty olive, &c. Of course the habits of all these species are 

 not accurately known. But in their slow, awkward flight, and 

 the construction of their jaws, they are quite unfit for a predatory 

 life. In the black species which I have had the opportunity of ob- 

 serving closely, OxythyrcBa stictica and Gnorimus variabilis, I could 

 find no difference in diet and general habits from Cetonia aurata. 



" Even among the Buprestida; we find not a few dull-looking 

 species which sadly contradict the character of splendour popularly 

 ascribed to this family. 



" In butterflies, or we might say in the Lepidoptera generally, 

 we have striking instances of similarity of diet accompanying 

 dissimilarity of coloration. We may say that substantially all 

 Lepidoptera feed upon the green leaves and stalks of plants 

 when larvaj, and that when mature they suck the nectar of flowers, 

 some few preferring the juices of fruits, especially when over-ripe. 

 But every lepidopterist knows that whilst many butterflies are 

 splendidly coloured, numbers of others, equally flower-frequenting, 

 are black, white, brown, grey, &c. If the influence of the flowers 

 they visit is the cause of the rich coloration of the Papilionina and 

 NymphalincB, why does it not have a corresponding effect on the 

 Satyi-iiuc and the bulk of the Pierinm ? This consideration alone 

 seems to me fatal to Mr. Grant Allen's theory. 



" The Orthoptera offer another crucial and fatal instance. If 

 any insect lives in and feeds upon flowers, it is the common 

 earwig. Yet in coloration it is inferior to perhaps the majority of 

 those refuse or carrion devourers, to which Mr. Allen assigns 

 * the first place in ugliness.' 



" Another fatal instance is afforded by the order of Hymenoptera. 

 We have here the group significantly called Anthophila, 'flower- 

 lovers,' including the AndrenidcB and Apidcc. These, including 

 the hive-bee, are more purely honey- and pollen-feeders than any 

 other Hymenoptera ; yet in coloration the species found in Britain, 

 or we might say in Europe, fall far short of the carnivorous and 

 parasitical Chrysididce. 



