46 RED AND YELLOW. [ixtrod. 



specimens being nearly as yellow as those of the male. Mr M. C. 

 Oberthiir supplied a specimen from Central Algeria which was inter- 

 mediate between the type and this variety. Leech, J. H., P. Z. S., 

 1886, p. 122. 



4. Amongst Lepidoptera the change from red to yellow is very 

 common. A case of Vanessa atalarda, having the red partially replaced 

 by yellow, is figured in Entom., 1878, xi. p. 170, Plate. Varieties of 

 Arctia caja, Callimorpha dominula, C. hebe, C. hera, C. jacoboece, 

 Zygcena filipendulce, Z. minos, tfcc, with yellow instead of red, are to 

 be seen in many collections. See especially Ochsexheimer, Schm. 

 v. Europa, 1808, n. p. x, also p. 25, and many other authors. A 

 chalk-pit at Madingley, Cambridge, has long been known to collectors 

 as a locality for the yellow Z. filipendulce (Six-spot-Burnet); see Eat. 

 Mo. Mag. xxv. p. 289. In some of these the yellow is tinged with 

 red, but it is commonly a very distinct variety. A variety of the Red 

 Underwing (Catocala nupta) with brownish-yellow in the place of the 

 red, is figured by Exgramelle, Papill. d'Eur., PL cccxxn. The evidence 

 relating to this subject is very extensive, and concerns many genera and 

 species besides those named above. 



5. Pericrocotus flammeus (an Indian Fly-catcher) is grey and 

 yellow in the female, and black and orange-red in the male. The young 

 male is grey and yellow like the female. An adult male is described in 

 which the grey had been fully replaced by black, but the yellow 

 remained, not having been replaced by red. R. G. "Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 P. Z. S., 1879, p. 765. See also Legge, Birds of Ceylon, I. p. 363, for 

 description of male in transitional plumage. 



Curiously enough the change from red to yellow and from light 

 yellow to dark is no less common among plants, though it can 

 scarcely be supposed that the substances concerned are similar. 



1. y<ircissus corbularia and other species are known in sulphur- 

 yellow and in full yellow 1 . 



2. The Iceland Poppy (P. nudicaule) is very common in gardens 

 under three forms, white, yellow and orange. Intermediate and flaked 

 varieties occur, but are less common than the three chief forms. 

 Respecting this species Miss Jekyll of Munstead, who first brought 

 out the varieties, kindly gives me the following information. She 

 writes : — " I began with one plant of the yellow colour that I take to 

 be the type-colour. It was then new as a garden plant, so I saved the 

 seed. The first sowing gave me various shades of orange, as well as the 

 type, in different shades. In the 3rd and 4th years I got buffs, whites, 

 and very pale lemon colourings. As there was only one plant to begin 

 with there was no question of cross-fertilization. A white appeared in 



the 3rd year of sowing and I kept on selecting for 2 or 3 years and 



gave it to a friend in Ireland, who returned it to me 2 years later still 

 more improved. This strong white seems now to be fixed and quite 

 unwilling to revert to the yellow colourings, and is a rather stouter and 



1 Mr P. Barr, who has collected these forms in Portugal, tells me that he believe3 

 the pale (" citrina") varieties of N. ajax and X. corbularia to be confined to 

 calcareous soils. 



