856 ME. w. BATESox ON THE [Dec. 3, 



There is some suggestion that the frequency of the different 

 variations may be in part dependent on locality. The great mass 

 of my specimens were collected on the hills that extend behind 

 the town of Granada, separating the two valleys of the Genii and 

 the Darro. In the first year I made a separate collection also 

 from the Spartium growing near the bottom of the Darro valley. 

 I noticed at once that the proportion of the striped forms with 

 greyish -green ground-colour was much larger than it had been in 

 the case of the hill-locality. Unfortunately I was not at that 

 time expert in sorting the sexes, and this Darro sample was 

 eventually mixed with the rest that I brought, living, to England. 

 The colours were recorded, but without reference to sex. 



The second year, however, I made another attempt to get 

 statistics of the Darro population, and give the result in Table II. 

 The total numbers are unfortunately small, as the available area 

 on which the Simrtium grows is not extensive ; but the quantity is 

 sufficient to show that the proportions are markedly different 

 from those of the hill-sides, for while on the hill-sides 19 per cent, 

 of males are of the striped greenish grey, in the Darro valley about 

 37'7 per cent, are of that colour. I am disposed to think this 

 difference in proportion is a perfectly genuine phenomenon and not 

 merely an accident of collection, but I can suggest no cause for 

 it. The difference in altitude is very slight, averaging, perhaps, 

 300 feet. Xo doubt the Darro bushes are rather larger and better 

 watered, but many of the bushes on the hills are of the same 

 character and I did not find a high proportion of greens on them. 

 The Darro valley is no doubt less exposed and rather hotter than the 

 hill-sides, but it would not be easy to point to a specific difference. 



A peasant employed as a " Guardia Municipal," with whom I 

 made acquaintance, collected for me a considerable sample of some 

 hundreds from Pinos, higher up the Genii valley. The pro- 

 portions agreed fairly with my Granada sample ; but as I knew 

 nothing of the way in which they had been collected, the numbers 

 are not worth giving. 



On the 20th of March, 1895, during an interval between trains 

 at Castillejo ', a place not far from Toledo, in a hasty sweeping I 

 got 75 specimens, only one being a female. Of these none are of 

 the striped greenish-grey form. The number is of course too small 

 to justify a conclusion ; but the result is remarkable, for according 

 to the Granada experience there should have been about 14 such 

 specimens. It is possible that in this more northern locality the 

 proportions may be different. The scarcity of females is also to be 

 noted and may perhaps be due to comparative backwardness of 

 the season. 



It seems that at Granada at all events the beetles are to be 

 found for a considerable part of the year, for Mr. Nicholson has 

 kindly sent me a small gathering made in the month of June. 



' As travellers from Toledo for the south generally have to wait some hours 

 at Castillejo, it is not unlikely that some entomologist may find an opportunity 

 of looking into this matter. The Spartittm grows in quantity near the station. 



