296 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. IV, 



variation and different scopes of variation. Curve (c), Figure 6, 

 Plate XXI, which represents but one strain of annectans covers a 

 wider range than curve (a) which represents four strains. 

 Curve (d), which also represents one strain is quite narrow, 

 seeming to signify that this strain had a greater degree of con- 

 stancy than the others. The mother in each of these cases 

 occurred within the range of variation for her progeny but not 

 always at the highest point of the curve though in both of the 

 instances where this observation was possible she occurred at 

 one of the high points, see curves (a) and (b), Fig. 6, Plate XXI. 

 Two of the mothers being melano pleura had no place in the 

 elytra series, and since in the cases where the mother was 

 annectans two or more strains were represented, the fact of the 

 highest part of the curve not being at the same position as the 

 mother might in this case be explained as due to one of the 

 other strains involved. 



There seemed in some cases to be a certain measure of her- 

 itability of different characters in the color pattern of the 

 elytra. The absence of spot 6 in Figure 4, Plate XXI, seemed to 

 be inherited to a large degree since it was lacking in 21 out of 27 

 beetles. The mother being melanopleura could not be observed 

 on this point. This spot seems from my observations to be the 

 one most frequently lacking in this form, indeed almost the 

 only one except in a small minority of beetles. Spot 4 was 

 absent in only three beetles in this study, in Figure 3 (a), 

 Plate XX, and in two others not drawn but ranked with (f) and 

 (g) respectively in Figure 2, Plate XX, spot 5 was faint in one, 

 Figure 3 (c). The absence of spot 4 seemed not to be inherited 

 in these cases, as no case of absence occurred in the 37 progeny 

 of the mother, Figure 3 (a), which lacked it, and it appeared 

 only twice in the 30 offspring in Figure 2, Plate XX. 



Some observations were made on the order in which con- 

 fluences take place. Spots 6 and 7 seemed to be the first as a 

 rule to connect, as in this study there was only one instance 

 where a beetle showed confluences and had these spots separate, 

 see Figure 3 (e) . There were three such cases where spot 6 was 

 absent, but even in the case of absence there was often a pro- 

 jection toward its position from spot 7 as though in these 

 instances the confluence was even more persistent than the 

 spot itself. After this confluence no further order was observed 

 except that between spots 4 and 5 it seemed to be the most 

 unusual and perhaps the last in order. 



