DECEMBER IN NEW ZEALAND. 165 
natural selection of dark specimens owing to their harmony with 
the colour of the darkened walls, &c., on which they rest. Some 
time ago it was asserted that in the neighbourhood of London 
no such melanism was to be observed ; but since then several 
cases have come to light in which London moths are darker 
than those usually to be found in the country districts. Hence 
it appears that London melanism is at present a genuine pheno- 
menon, though less marked than that of the north of England. 
Unfortunatel}', the available records seem quite inadequate to 
inform us whether the dark London varieties have had a very 
recent origin ; but there is no reason why careful records should 
not be made now, so that hereafter the progress in the direction 
of further darkening, if any, could be accurately estimated. 
The points touched upon are only a very few out of perhaps 
fifty that could be mentioned, so it is quite evident that the 
need for workers far exceeds the supply. While the reports of 
travellers are interesting enough, there is not the least occasion 
to go to the ends of the earth in order to discover new facts, 
and I suppose there is not a locality on this earth, excepting 
deserts and Arctic regions, which is so well examined by 
naturalists that one could not profitably spend a life-time in 
studying its fauna and flora. 
Kingston, Jamaica. T. D. A. Cockerell. 
DECe’mBER in new ZEALAND. 
HERE are very often three or four weeks of dry, blowy 
weather about this time; the grass becomes crumbly 
and brown, though never so dry as upon the plains. 
Upon the uplands we have heavy dews, and sometimes 
during December I have seen the hills round the lake blanketed 
in fog up to eleven o’clock, or with peaks only showing like black 
islands in the whiteness. Taking advantage of the heat, the 
settlers then fire their felled forest lands. After a big bush fire 
the air is quite full of floating skeleton leaves of ash ; they 
descend like snow from the smoky haze, and fall so lightly that 
once or twice I have been able to tell the species of tree to 
which they have belonged. Some timbers burn very much 
more readily than others, one of the least combustible is the 
fuchsia; by bushmen it is called “ bucket-of-water,” and in 
opener grass lands, after a few years only, the fuchsias remain 
vigorous and green. December of 1893, however, has been very 
wet indeed, and it looks as if again this year there will be little 
weather suitable for burning grass, fern, or forest. The fires 
that in dry seasons run over the hills do an immense amount of 
good, clearing out the rank grass, and destroying the stunted, 
nibbled fern and manuka. 
