( 196 ) 
[February, 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE BAND-PATTERN IN ANIMALS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Journal of Science . 
Sir, — May I ask if any readers of the “Journal of Science” 
have made observations bearing on the curious fadt that in a 
multitude of species belonging to different parts of the animal 
kingdom the colours are arranged, in bands or stripes, approxi- 
mately at right-angles to a line drawn from the head to the tail ? 
Further, in a vast majority of cases, these bands are alternately 
yellow and black, or at least a very deep green, deep purple, &c. 
This pattern prevails, among mammals, in the tiger and the zebra ; 
among Hymenopterous insedts, in a number of bees and wasps. 
But among the Coleoptera it recurs in a multitude of groups 
differing widely in their habits, localities, and affinities. Thus 
among the so-called “long-horns” we find it in the genera 
Clytus, Rhagium ., Stenura, and Diastocerus ; among Buprestids 
it occurs in Cyria, Diadoxus, Nascio, Conognatha, Stigmodera, 
and Buprestis. Among the Cetoniadae it is met with in Plcesio- 
rhina , Anisorrhina, Allorrhina, Clinteria, Gametis , Pachnoda , 
and Euphoria . It may finally be traced among the highly car- 
nivorous tiger-beetles ( Cicindela ), and in the carrion-feeding 
sexton-beetles ( Necrophorus ). In all these cases, save the 
moths, the bands consist alternately of yellow, orange, or buff, 
and of black or some very dark shade. A few of these instances, 
such as those of the tiger and zebra, may subserve the purpose 
of concealment; and others, e.g., Clytus arietis, may be mimetic, 
causing the insedt to be mistaken for some more formidable 
species. But in the majority it seems as if we encounter here 
the markings of some more deeply-hidden law. — I am, &c., 
J. W. S. 
THE SEA-SERPENT. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Journal of Science . 
Sir, — I have read with much interest your notice of Dr. Wilson’s 
memoir on sea-serpents, and quite agree with you and with him 
that the question of their existence should be fairly and dis- 
