THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 47 
communicated “ Descriptions of New Genera and Species of 
Pselaphide and Scydmenide from Australia and New 
Zealand.” The paper contained descriptions of forty-four 
new species, three of them belonging to the family Scydme- 
nide. Of the forty-one species of Pselaphide, twenty-six 
were from Australia and fifteen from New Zealand, the latter 
being the first specimens of Pselaphide that had, as yet, been 
obtained from New Zealand. He believed that the islands 
would prove to be rich in Pselaphidz, and alluded to the 
great scientific importance of an accurate knowledge of the 
New Zealand fauna, and to the special importance of gaining 
as rapidly as possible a knowledge of the existing Coleoptera, 
as such knowledge would contribute largely to the solution 
of many important scientific questions; and, as a large pro- 
portion of the species were confined to small areas of 
distribution, there was great reason to fear they would be 
easily exterminated, and thus the fauna itself would disappear 
with the changes caused by colonization and the cultivation 
of the soil. 
Protective Colouring in Pupa.—Myv. Darwin communicated 
a paper containing remarks by Mrs. Barber, of Griqualand, 
South Africa, on the colour of the pupa of Papilio Nireus, in 
connection with the surroundings of its place of attachment, 
the pupa appearing to assume a protective resemblance to the 
surface to which it is fixed, and suggesting that some photo- 
graphic influence might be at work. A discussion ensued, in 
which Prof. Westwood, Mr. M‘Lachlan, and others, took 
part; and Mr. Meldola remarked, in reply to Mr. M‘Lachlan, 
that the action of light upon the sensitive skin of a pupa had 
no analogy with its action on any known photographic 
chemical. No known substance retained permanently the 
colour reflected on it by adjacent objects. Mr. Meldola 
further observed that there was no difficulty in believing that 
larve might become affected in colour by the colouring 
matter of the food-plant, since chlorophyll in an unaltered - 
condition had been found in the tissues of green larve. 
Facts of this nature did not, however, exclude the possibility 
of the action of Natural Selection in such cases, for the 
property of showing the colour of the tissues through the 
skin, if of advantage to the species, would be preserved 
through this agency. 
