Gr 4850s) 
XX. A permanent record of British Moths in their natural 
attitudes of rest. By A. H. Hamm, Assistant in the 
Hope Department of Zoology, Oxford University 
Museum. Communicated by Proressor E. B. 
PouttTon, D. Sc., F.R.S. 
[Read November 21st, 1906.] 
PLATE X XIX. 
NATURALISTS have often described the remarkable har- 
mony between many of our common insects and their 
environment. Indeed no one can have collected or 
observed insects without noticing this for himself, par- 
ticularly in the species which usually rest upon tree- 
trunks, rocks and walls. 
Although the art of photography has recently made 
such rapid strides and has been utilized so successfully to 
demonstrate and record many of the processes and facts 
of Nature, very little has been done, so far as I am aware, 
to illustrate by its means the attitudes and resting habits 
of our common insects. Now, however, by the develop- 
ment and perfection of “half-tone” illustration, figures 
can be multiplied to an indefinite extent easily, inexpen- 
sively, and so far as the printing is concerned in a perma- 
nent form. The paper it is to be feared is “ another story,” 
and one which requires, but has not as yet received serious 
consideration on behalf of posterity. The natural histories 
of British insects of the immediate future will I believe 
be largely illustrated in this way, and the present paper 
is an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility and success 
of the method. 
Any one unacquainted with living insects in their 
natural surroundings entirely fails to appreciate and value 
the various colours and patterns seen on glancing through 
a collection of insects, more especially Lepidoptera. Hven 
less is he able to understand their meaning in the illustra- 
tions of the numerous works on the subject. It is not 
too much to claim that the figures on Plate XXIX are 
TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906.—PART Iv. (JAN. 1907) 
