MAYER: COLOR AND COLOR-PATTERNS. 191 
able to withstand the most severe cold while in hibernation during 
the winter, it is of great importance for them to absorb as much heat 
as possible during the short summer, He placed several species of 
lepidopterous larvae upon a snow surface exposed to bright sunshine. 
The snow melted at different rates under the various larvae, and 
in two hours the darkest insect had sunk by far the deepest into the 
snow, proving that it was the best absorber of heat. This ingeni- 
ous experiment of Lord Walsingham should be made the beginning 
of an extensive and careful research. 
Chapman (88) has shown that it may be of advantage to moths 
inhabiting wet regions to display dark colors, or become melanie. 
His observations were made upon Diamea flagella, and he says that 
upon one showery afternoon he observed that one side of the tree 
trunks was wet and dark in color; the other side being dry was 
paler. “ As a consequence, the dark specimens of flagella were very 
conspicuous upon the dry portions, hardly visible on the wet, whilst 
with the ordinary form the conditions were reversed, those on the 
wet bark were conspicuous, those on the dry much less so.” Per- 
haps the dull coloration of Arctie moths may be partially due to the 
effect of the somber background of rocks in the regions which they 
inhabit. 
(6) Relation between Climate and Colors of Papilios. It is well 
known that the Lepidoptera in the Tropics display the richest 
rariety and greatest number of colors. I have counted the colors 
exhibited by the 22 species of Papilio enumerated by Edwards as 
inhabiting North America north of Mexico, and also those which 
are displayed by the 200 species of Papilio named in Schatz's list as 
> were determined by com- 
found in South America. The “ colors’ 
parison with the colored plates in Ridgway (86). 
In this manner it was determined that the North American 
Papilios exhibit 17 colors, viz., black, brown, primrose-yellow, canary- 
yellow, sulphur-yellow, orange, white, greenish white, apple-green, 
cream-color, azure-blue, sage-green, rufous, pearl-gray, indigo-blue, 
iridescent blue, iridescent green. 
On the other hand the South American Papilios exhibited 36 
colors, viz., black, translucent black, brown, white, canary-yellow, 
citron-yellow, olive-yellow, primrose-yellow, chrome-yellow, straw- 
yellow, gamboge-yellow, cream-color, greenish white, apple-green, 
malachite-green, emerald-green, sage-green, slaty green iridescence, 
pea-ereen, azure-blue, iridescent Berlin-blue, indigo, pearl-blue, 
