﻿222 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



p. 187*), and also alcohol, and quite unaffected by any; except 

 that nitric acid (50 p. c.) seemed to have removed much of the 

 " silver," and exposed the brown wing beneath. 



P. gamma. Eight experiments were made on this, and all with- 

 out effecting any change. 



E. lucipara. The doubtful bronzy markings on this were 

 also tested, and without any different result. 



Of the remaining colours equally there is nothing satisfactory 

 to report. There are various half-tints and indeterminate shades 

 very difficult to classify, and yielding nothing but negative results 

 when treated. There is, for instance, what I have called greyish, 

 under which head I placed the fore wings of Acronycta psi and of 

 Phalera bucephala. These have been examined by means of most 

 of the reagents, and with practically no results, except that the 

 first seemed in several instances to become a trifle lighter ; and 

 the second certainly assumes a very sickly, washed out, indefinite 

 appearance.! One somewhat interesting exception may, however, 

 be noted : the grey of A. psi is turned quite black by argentic 

 nitrate ; but this (like the reactions of white wings with hydriodic 

 acid) is probably due to simple staining. 



Cream. An example of this is afforded by the hind wings, 

 and also by the " buff tip," of Phalera bucephala. I have examined 

 their behaviour with about a score of reagents each, and the results 

 are all negative. In some cases the cream of the hind wing 

 was a trifle " gone," or the wings partly transparent, — but that 

 was all ; and the buff tip was still more obdurate. 



In concluding the list I may point out that hundreds of Lepi- 

 doptera, chiefly among the Noctuse and Geometrse, display colours 

 (save the mark !) that would defy any attempt to classify, — half- 



of several other correspondents — viz., Messrs. J. Anderson, jun., Carlier, Farren, 

 Jackson, Jones (of Delaware), and J. J. Weir. 



With regard to these tropical species, I have decided not to tabulate any of the 

 results with those iDreviously obtained from English species ; for it seems very un- 

 desirable to mix up a few tropical species with these now, while reserving for some 

 later date the main body of results that I hope to obtain from extra-British Lepi- 

 doptera. On the other hand, several colours very sparsely represented by British 

 species are common in exotic, and it seemed equally foolish to pay no heed to these 

 when discussing the present results, and to be hampered by the limits of unnecessary 

 ignorance. I therefore picked out for immediate experiment, from the specimens 

 sent me, some that appeared likely to afford specially interesting results ; and these 

 results, although untabulated, I shall quote in their proper connexion when 

 discussing the various colours. I seem to owe this explanation alike to my corre- 

 spondents, who might perhaps be surprised at finding so little apparent use made 

 of the specimens that they sent me, and to the general reader, who might be 

 puzzled by finding tropical species alluded to in subsequent pages, whilst not 

 mentioned in the tables. 



* After the list of " six" reagents, add " and acetic acid." 



t Apparently this is due to the bluish grey scales flaking off, and thereby 

 exposing a lower stratum of scales of lighter hue. 



