1922. J 



I rip in tlie (^aiifahriau Mot()ita'iii$. 



nni 



Valies of Kelative Humidity in per cent, at 

 various European Stations. 



Aiuinal 

 Mean. 



Bergen (W. Norway) 77 



Cbristiania (S. Norwaj-) 73 



Berlin (Germanj-) 75 



Hamburg (Germany) 81 



Dmikirk (N.W. France) 75 



Aberdeen (E. Scotland) SO 



Kew (England) 79 



Falmouth (S.W. England) 83 



Valentia (S.W. Ireland) 84 



Mnnich (Bavaria) 80 



Paris (France) 74 



Bordeaux (S.W. France) 75 



Annual 

 Mean. 



Bagucres-de-Bigorre (about centre 



of N. side Pyrenees) 71 



Oviedo (Asturia.s, N. Spain, near 



Picos de Europa) 79 



Pontevedra (Galicia, west coast, 



N. Spain) 75 



Lisbon (Portugal) 70 



Gibraltar 75 



Seville (S. Spain) 62 



Malaga (S.E. Spain) 65 



Madrid (Central Spain) 64 



Barcelona (N.E. Spain) 68 



Willie this tiible certainly shows that the middle and 

 eastern side of Spain is dryer than the Atlantic side and the 

 north, I think it will be agreed that it docs not assist us 

 in the problems presented in the distribution table given 

 above, nor indeed in a comparison of British and Continental 

 races. 



It may be very true to say that we do not yet know what 

 are the environmental factors wliicli may produce a change 

 in the coloration ot" a bird, but I think proof must be given 

 before we can state that a difference is due merely to environ- 

 mental causes acting upon each individual after its birth. 



Beebe's experiments certainly prove that an individual 

 bird does become darker in successive moults when sub- 

 jected, under certain conditions, to a very humid atmosphere, 

 but unfortunately his experiments stopped at this point. 

 He did not breed birds in these conditions. 



Dr. Lowe, in his stimulating paper on species and sub- 

 species (Ibis, 1022, p. 185), mentions the case of the Bermuda 

 Goldfinch, and holds that its distinctive coloration would not 

 be inherited. If this is really the case, then it seems 

 necessary also to believe that the dark pigment is increased 

 so rapidly that each individual attains the distinctive differ- 

 ence of the race at all events when it moults its juvenile 



