lU 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Hapalotis. I jirefer to adopt Hiibner's name, rather than to pro- 

 pose a new one ; and those who object to quoting the genus as 

 Hiibner's, on the insufl&cient ground that it is imperfectly charac- 

 terised, are welcome, so far as I am concerned, to imagine that I 

 am the author of it. 



Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 



CONTRIBUTIONS to the CHEMISTRY of INSECT COLOURS. 



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



(Continued from p. 91.) 



V. — The Chemical Aspect (continued). 

 H. 

 The next colour which we have to consider is green; a very 

 interesting colour, but an exceedingly difficult and perplexing 

 one to deal with. The difficulty is owing to the fact that under 

 the one term of green are included several different colours — 

 different in constitution and behaviour, though broadly similar in 

 appearance. This was already evident from the reactions tabulated 

 on page 251 of the last volume; but since then I have been able 

 to experiment on a number of exotic species, with the result that 

 I have discovered still more variability in the greens. Clearly, 

 then, our first step must be to classify these various greens, and, 

 as a preliminary, I will prefix a list of the fresh specimens recently 

 examined, with a summary of their reactions. 



Name. 



Colour. 



Acid effect. 



Alkali effect. 



Papilio codrus . . 



Leaf-green 







Yellow 



P. agamemnon . . 



Deep green 



0(exceptbyHN03) 



Whitish 



P. policenes 



Leaf -green 



White 



White 



P. antheus 



Pale green 



White 



Somewhat affected 



Limenitis procris . 



Sage-green 



Dun-grey 



Dun-grey 



Parthenos gamhri- 









sius, below . . 



Sage-green 



Dun-brown 



Dun-brown 



Parthenos ganibri- 









sius, above . . 



Metallic green .... 



Purplish bronze . . 



Blackish 



Eronia argia .... 



Very pale bluish grn 



White* 



White 



Hesperia sp.? 



Dark metallic green 



Blackish or ... . 



Purplish bronze 



Urania fulgens . . 



Metallic bronze-grn 



Eed or vio 



let bronze 



Let us, first of all, adopt the same course that was followed in 

 treating of yellow and chestnut, and arrange the various greens in 

 different groups, according as they behave when tested with the 

 reagents. We shall find it necessary to form — at least provi- 

 sionally — three groups, as shown in the following tabulation : — 



* Dissolution not certain ; so little pigment in the wing to start with. 



