302 Heredity of Melanism in Lepidoptera 



6. Addalia virgularia. The classical experiments of Messrs Prout 

 and Bacot^ on this species, where they reared 10 generations represented 

 by 5531 specimens, showed that the two varieties — London, dark, and 

 French, light — were not Mendelian forms of the species, but the experi- 

 ments were of great value in proving other points in heredity. 



Ova from pairings in generation F-^q were given to Mr Bateson, 

 who in February, 1909, handed the resultant larvae to Mr W. B. Alex- 

 ander% who successfully reared them and carried on further broods, and 

 eventually, with the aid of the former specimens and his own, demon- 

 strated that although A. virgularia and its light variety, canteneraria, 

 had been proved not to be Mendelian forms of the species, yet one of 

 the differences between the two forms, namely, the speckling in virgu- 

 laria, behaves as a Mendelian dominant to the absence of speckling in 

 canteneraria. Here then is a Mendelian rule, but the variation in the 

 ground colour obscured the evidence of it. 



Mr R. T. Baumann^ has recently bred black specimens of virgularia 

 and with Mr Bacot is conducting further experiments on the heredity 

 of this form. 



7. Addalia contiguaria. Mr W. Buckley, in a series of experi- 

 ments on the dark form of this species extending through 8 generations, 

 has produced evidence, conclusive to my mind, that the dark form is 

 a simple Mendelian dominant. The experiment is still going on, and 

 detailed results are as yet unpublished. 



8. Xanthorhoe ferrugata = Goremia unidentaria. The breeding 

 experiments of Mr L. B. Prout ^ in 1895 show conclusively that this 

 species follows Mendelian rules. 



In addition to the facts contained in the paper, the author liCw 

 certain conclusions which he afterwards modified, and is now quitj in 

 accord with the statement that the experiment proves the reddish ( r 

 purple form to be dominant and the black form recessive l 



9. Abraxas grossulariata. The black variety of this moth (varle- 

 yata) has been bred by Messrs Porritt and Newman, and it seems that 

 it follows Mendelian lines but is recessive to the type". 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. Vol. 81, 1909. 



2 Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. 1912, p. 45. 



3 Entomologist, February 1913, p. 30. 



4 Trans. City of Lond. Knt. Soc. 1897—98, pp. 26—34, and Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 

 1906, pp. 525—531. 



5 Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1907, p. xx. 

 « Ent. 1909, p. 75. 



