118 MEETIXrjS. 



show tliat Nicolas Do (laris was a man of intelligence and 

 observation. 



Dr. Herbert J. Fleure, of University College, Aberyst- 

 wyth, contributed a paper (read by Mr. Sharp) on " Crabs 

 which cling," and the subject was illustrated by means of 

 living and preserved specimens, exhibited by Mr. Mabbs. 

 This paper is printed in the following pages of the Tran- 

 sactions. 



The Hon. Secretary read a communication he had 

 received asking for local information respecting the habits of 

 bees in visiting flowers, and their preference for certain 

 colours. The subject led to an interesting discussion. 



Monthly Meeting held on March 21st, 1906, Rev. W. C. 

 Penney, President, in the chair. 



Miss Vegeais, Miss E. Blicq, and Dr. E. K. Corbin, 

 M.K.C.S., Avere unanimously elected members of the Society. 



A Kaven, recently shot in Herm, and stuffed for the 

 Museum, was exhibited. In reply to certain remarks as to 

 the supposed scarcity of this bird, Mr. Marquand said Ravens 

 were much less rare in these islands than commonly supposed, 

 and were always to be seen on the cliffs of Guernsey, Sark 

 and Herm by persons who could distinguish them on the wing 

 from Crows. As Ravens were w^ell able to take care of 

 themselves, and their eggs seldom taken here, it was 

 probable that their numbers were increasing rather than 

 diminishing. 



]Mr. E. D. Marquand read a paper on " The Colour 

 Sense of Insects." Of all the allurements held out to insects 

 in order to produce the cross-fertilisation of plants, it was 

 probable that the colour of flowers played the chief part. 

 Experiments had shown that bees and wasps could clearly 

 recognise and distinguish colours, and further, that they 

 evinced a marked preference for some, and a.voidance of 

 others. The generpj favourites seemed to be yellow and 

 white, and then blue and violet, or purple. Mr. Marquand 

 was of opinion, however, that other attractive agencies were 

 at work which lay beyond our perception. Scarlet, as a flower 

 colour, seemed generally disliked by bees ; and flowers of this 

 colour are extremely rare in Europe and Asia, though common 

 in America. The predominance of certain flower-colours was 

 perhaps correlated with the times of appearance of certain 

 tribes of insects. Flowers fertilised by wind or air-currents, 

 and not by insects, were almost invariably dull-coloured. 



