CHEMISTRY OF INSECT COLOtfUS. 63 



floor, out of doors, against the north aspect of a wall, and had 

 the satisfaction of seeing evidence — in the germination of chick- 

 weed seeds, &c. — of a continued natural moisture so necessary 

 under the circumstances. In February and March the glasses 

 were occasionally taken off, the pots treated__to a gentle shower 

 of rain, exposed in the sunshine, and so on. 



I can add little to Newman's graphic description of the 

 moth. The fore wings are deep brickdust-red, — in fact, 

 mahogany colour, — sparingly dusted with grey scales. The or- 

 bicular and reniform are clearly marked out in whitish grey, 

 the orbicular being filled in with a darker shade of grey. The 

 reniform is transversely lengthened, and is composed of two 

 lobes clearly defined in whitish-grey, the upper lobe being filled 

 in with the same darker grey as the orbicular, the lower one with 

 dark brown, almost black. This lower lobe is almost concolorous 

 with a dark transverse shade of the wing-colour, which, beginning 

 on the costal margin, surrounds the discoidal spots, and widens 

 out so as to include nearly the whole of the inner margin. There 

 is a marginal dark brown band of the same shade as that in the 

 lower reniform lobe ; and two very indistinct lines of spots, 

 darker than the ground colour, cross the wing, the first before 

 the orbicular, the second beyond the reniform. The hind wings 

 are light grey, a shade darker than those of Teeniocamjpa miniosa ; 

 in Newman's figures they appear almost identical. A smoky shade 

 increases towards the outer margin, and terminates in a delicately 

 marked mahogany-coloured line. The wing-rays are dark and 

 smoke-coloured. These hind wings show a rosy, iridescent tint. 

 All the wings have a glossy appearance, and the ample fringes 

 are beautifully tinted with rose-colour. 



The antennse of the female are simple ; those of the male are 

 very slightly pectinated. "The palpi are short" (Newman). 

 The thorax is densely clothed, and of the same colour as the fore 

 wings. The body is of the same grey as the orbicular interior, 

 and slightly tufted anally and on the sides with the rosy colour 

 of the wing-fringes. 



Chester, January 3, 1891. 



CONTRIBUTIONS to the CHEMISTRY of INSECT COLOURS. 



By F. H. Perry Coste, F.C.S., F.L.S. 



(Continued from p. 15.) 



V. — The Chemical Aspect. F. (concluded). 



Specimens of A, caia, E. jacohcece and C. nupta, were then 

 subjected to strong HCl for one hour. They were instantly 

 yellowed, of course. Washing restored a faint reddish tinge, 

 which quickly disappeared. Finding them after one to two hours 



