NOTES AND QUERIES. 327 



were taken by Mr. F. Pick ard-Camb ridge at Dungeness. They were found 

 amongst the shingle on the beach, and also upon a Hedgehog. 



3. Hyalomma affine, Neum. — A specimen (a gravid female) of this 

 species was sent for determination to the British Museum in May, 1898, 

 by Mr. P. C. Essex, who picked it up at Feltham. The specimen is very 

 much larger than the ordinary British Tick, and closely resembles the so- 

 called " Camel-Tick " of Egypt and India. My suspicion that it actually 

 was an example of this species that had interested Mr. Essex was partially 

 confirmed at the time by my inquiry eliciting the information that a travel- 

 ling menagerie had passed through Feltham a short while before. Subse- 

 quent examination of the specimen, however, has shown that it is referable 

 to H. affine, Neumann, a species which its describer mentions as common 

 on Tortoises (Testudo grceca and mauritanica), and records as taken in 

 England off one of these reptiles. Hence there is no reason to doubt that 

 the Feltham specimen was introduced, and is not a descendant of British- 

 born parents. — R. I. Pocock (Nat. Hist. Museum, South Kensington). 



OKGANIC EVOLUTION. 



In the last copy of ' The Zoologist ' which has come to hand in this 

 out-of-the-way part of the world (Mashonaland), I find that Mr. Distant 

 has terminated his series of deeply interesting articles on "Biological 

 Suggestions," relating to " Assimilative Colouration and Mimicry." In 

 these articles he has brought together a most valuable collection of 

 observations and remarks, made by all sorts and conditions of men, 

 upon the fascinating problems of animal colouration, a collection which 

 bears eloquent testimony to the wide and careful reading of the author ; 

 indeed, although it may appear ungrateful to say so, the material offered 

 for the contemplation of the reader is almost bewilderingly profuse — so 

 much so, in my opinion, as frequently to obscure the real aim and object 

 of the essays under a mass of citations. Thus, although many of the points 

 raised by Mr. Distant appeared to be open to discussion, it seemed advisable 

 to see the articles as a whole before attempting to comment on the conclu- 

 sions which he suggests should be drawn from the records therein brought 

 forward. I deal only with his remarks on " Assimilative Colouration," pub- 

 lished in Sept. and Nov. 1898 (Zool. ser. iv. vol. ii. pp. 377 and 453). 



If I havo rightly comprehended Mr. Distant's meaning, his general 

 object is to show that the theory of natural selection has been pushed too far 

 by some of its supporters in their endeavour to explain colouring in nature, 

 and to this end he propounds two suggestions : primarily, that " in the long 

 past animals were uniformly and assimilatively coloured in connection with 

 their principal surroundings " (I.e., p. 461) ; and, secondarily, that "it is at 

 least probable that, where we have protective resemblance in a unicolourous 



