THE GLIM AT AL CHANGER OF MELANITIS LED A. 719 



Owing to the heavy mortality among the larvae far fewer pupae were available 

 than I could have wished, and these were still further reduced by the abnormal 

 conditions they were placed in. I am aware that no definite conclusion can be 

 drawn from the above table, but so far as it goes, it supports the hypothesis 

 rather than negatives it. My last and still more disappointing experience was 

 with my effort to ascertain whether the change occurred during the larval stage 

 or not. For this purpose I divided over sixty larvae into two batches, putting 

 one-half on one bamboo plant growing in a pot and the remainder on another. 

 Both plants were kept on the same verandah, but whereas one was given a full 

 share of sunlight and no water approximating as near as I could to dry season 

 conditions, the other was kept entirely in the shade and was copiously watered 

 every morning. Owing to the excessive mortality above detailed, the results were 

 meagre in the extreme, and I can only hope to repeat them at seme future date. 



The pupae were kept separate in adjoining breeding cages. 



The following are the results : — 



Conditions. Number. 



Days in pupa. Kesnlts. 



Wet I 3 



Dry ... .. j 6 



— 10 32 1 died. 9 D. £ D 



18 21 21 9 D. $ 9 D. A D. 



25 26 26 | 9 9 D. 



The number of females is remarkable ; there was also a very noteworthy 

 similarity of colouring among the " dry " female specimens, all of them being 

 of a very pale reddish ground colour with well marked fasciae. On the other 

 hand the " wet " female was of a deep purple brown, the most heavily marked 

 specimen I have ever seen. The three males were very similar to each other, 

 the ground colour being pale greenish brown. The insects taken at largcat this 

 time were nearly all dry forms of varying shades and colouring, While it is 

 impossible to draw any definite conclusions from such meagre results, yet I 

 think there are grounds for believing that though these forms are dependent 

 on heat and cold, yet the diversity of colouring may be due in some measure to 

 the condition of the food plants. 



I have no intention of theorising on this subject, but I may lay some stress 

 on the fact, for the benefit of those so inclined and who are unacquainted with 

 tropical countries, that there is nothing in the appearance of an evergreen 

 tropical jungle which favours one season form more than another. In those 

 parts of the world such as Mauritius, Ceylon, Java and Sumatra the leaves and 

 decaying vegetation under bushes and trees (the haunts of Melanith) is precisely 

 the same whether the weather is wet or dry. Even in cyclonic weather, when 

 there is a deluge of rain, the debris at the roots of bamboos and other tropical 

 shrubs is frequently perfectly dry, and presents no differences from that found 

 in the height of the dry weather. In such districts as the plains of India or 

 S. Africa, there is a vast difference in the appearance of the country at different 

 seasons of the year, and it is readily comprehensible how one seasonal form is 



