712 Mr. Percy K. Lowe on [Ibis, 



The specimens o£ the females horsfieldi and mutlmra 

 ( = melanotus) in the Natural History Museum are alike in 

 pattern and general coloration ; the pale margins of the 

 breast-feathers distinguish them from the breast of the female 

 ni/ctltemerus, which in the typical form has a distinct white 

 pattern on a dark ground. We must remember G. mela- 

 iiotus was the female parent in Mr. Phillips's experiment. 



A few weeks ago Mr. Phillips was in this country and 

 examined the ]\Iusenm specimens in the Bird Room of 

 G. Jiorspeldi and (jr. muthura { = melanotus) to ascertain which 

 species he had used, but neither seemed to recall his 

 own specimen, and he returned to America in doubt ; it 

 has been suggested that to solve the doubt he mioht send 

 over his skins to the Museum for examination. 



Since writing the above I have received the following 

 letter from Mr. Phillips, in which he acknowledges that he 

 made a mistake in identification : — 



" The bird which I used in my crosses was certainly the 

 straight melanotus. I compared my old stock with speci- 

 mens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge 

 at the time and they checked up entirely. I looked at the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology specimens again to-day, 

 and they are like the ones you showed me in London, black 

 on whole upper side, but not black on breast. It was my 

 mistake ; it should have read ' whole upper surface black.' 

 I am glad you called my attention to it.'^ 



" Sincerely yours, 

 '< June 19, 1922. " JoHN C. PHILLIPS." 



XL. — ^1 ]S!ote on Acquired or Somatic Variations. 

 By Percy R. Lowe. 



Mr. Witherby in 'The Ibis' for April 1922, p. 331 et seq., 

 expressed himself as unconvinced of the soundness of my 

 contention (Ibis, 1922, p. 185) to the effect that the distinctive 

 darker coloration of the Bermudan (joldfinch w^ould not be 

 inherited but would be re-acquired in each generation. 



