32 MELANISM IN LEPIDOPTERA. 



slopes near the lake. A. ornata common at most places we visited, but 

 not in the Alpine valleys. Timandra ornata Schaffhausen, Liuno. 

 Numeria capreolaria one specimen near Chur. Gnoplios ylaucinaria 

 one specimen near Chur. G. dilucidaria Baden, Bellaggio. Ortholitha 

 limitata (mensuraria) Chur. 0. bipunctaria Chur ; larger and darker 

 than English (chalk) specimens. Minoa murinata (cupkorbiata) Pal- 

 lanza. Anaitis plagiata Baden, Schaffhausen. Lygris popidata com- 

 mon in fir-woods, at about 4500 feet elevation, near Spliigen. Some 

 specimens marked with dark, but I saw none of the var. musauaria. 

 Cidaria variata two on the Merkur-Berg, near Baden. C. ferrugata 

 Schaffhausen. C. ccesiata in company with L. populata, as in Scotland. 

 G. flavicinctata one specimen in the hotel at Spliigen. C. verberata 

 common in all the Alpine valleys we passed through. C. bilineata Baden, 

 Schaffhausen, Chur, Liuno. Eupithecia euphrasiata one specimen on a 

 hill behind Bellaggio. Rivula sericealis Bellaggio. Hypena obesalis a 

 specimen near Andeer. H. obsitalis common in passages amongst 

 vineyards, near Bellaggio. Botys purpuralis meadows at Bellaggio. 

 B. cespitalis Baden. B. nubilalis (lupulinalis) one specimen at Bel- 

 laggio. B. lutealis near the waterfall on the Spliigen. Eurycreon ver- 

 ticalis Schaffhausen. Pionea forficalis Baden. Diasemia litterata 

 This pretty little species was common at Bellaggio, flying gently in the 

 sunshine just above the top of the grass, in grass and clover-covered 

 meadows, in the neighbourhood of vineyards, &c. Crambus tristettus 

 Baden, Bellaggio. C. culmellus Baden, Bellaggio. C.perlellus Chur, 

 Bellaggio. C. geniculeus Bellaggio. Pempdia semirubella (carnella} 

 common at Bellaggio and Menaggio, in places like those frequented by 

 litterata. The var. sanguinella (with pale costa) also occurred. Myelois 

 rosella one specimen of this pretty little species at Menaggio. Sericoris 

 conchana Baden. Depressaria Tieydeni some pupSB picked up from 

 moss under stones whilst searching for Coleoptera, on the Spliigen, near 

 the top of the pass (at about 6500 feet), produced this species, for 

 naming which, as well as the last, I am indebted to Mr. E. Meyrick, of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge. W. A. FOBBES, West Wickham, Kent : 

 January Vlth, 1877. 



jiv. 9 MELANISM IN LEPIDOPTERA.* 



p. Io(lo77). 



AFTER Mr. Burchell's and Dr. Buchanan White's notes on this subject 

 (vol. xiii. pp. 130 and 145), and the very feasible explanation the 

 theory of natural selection gives of the prevalence (though not the cause) 



* Ent. Month. Mag. xiv. p. 16. 



