25 
abundance. The same may be said of </rnssiilariata , and Mr. G. T. 
Porritt gives a most interesting account of the great abundance of the 
larvae at Huddersfield for a certain time during the Spring, until two 
pairs of Cuckoos settled on the spot, and after a few days the whole 
of the larvie had been cleared off, and it became a scramble between 
the boy who was collecting for Mr. Porritt and the birds which should 
get the larva. These birds never left the spot until there were no more 
larvae to eat. A circumstance of this sort forms material for a good 
deal of speculation as to the use of warning colours in protective coloura¬ 
tion. I can’t help thinking that the clearance of these larvae by birds is 
a very unusual circumstance, and as far as I have been able to notice, 
this particular species has always escaped untouched by birds. Never¬ 
theless the London examples of this larvae have assumed a decided 
•darker colour than they were some 40 years ago, corresponding with 
the increase of smoke deposit on the stems of the bushes in a London 
garden. It is no uncommon thing to find absolute black larvae now, 
and we can only conclude that this alteration of colour is protective. 
Yet, as far as my knowledge goes, the circumstance related by Mr. 
Porritt is unique. It would seem that the larvae assume a protective 
colouration on the exceedingly off-chance of cuckoos settling in their 
district. As to the slow method of “ natural selection ” deciding the 
colour of larvae, I have very good evidence to the contrary, as from 
one batch of betularia larvae from the same parents, 1 had two distinct 
lots of coloured larvae. The portion of the batch which I fed on birch 
were of a red-brown colour, corresponding with the birch twigs, and 
those which were fed on sallow were of a bright green, and this result 
was without exception. In both cases the protective resemblance was 
perfect. There is an exceedingly interesting article in the August 
number of the “ Record,” on the value of protective resemblance in 
moths by Lieut.-Col. N. Manders, and as he takes up a position some¬ 
what off the beaten paths, it may be condusive to investigations of a 
more or less independent character. 
Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor has sent an account of his collecting this 
year to the “ Record,” and I was much struck with the very consider¬ 
able number of eu/ihrosyne which were observed in Tilgate Forest, and 
also that they included nothing among them that could be called a 
variety. Mr. Grosvenor considered this uniformity to be a character¬ 
istic of the season, and his opinion was fully confirmed by myself 
while collecting adonis at Folkestone. During my stay there I was 
accompanied by three well-known Entomologists, and we were all 
looking for varieties of adonis, and although probably some thousands 
of specimens passed through our hands, not a single variety was secured 
by any of us. 
I take the opportunity of thanking the officers of the Society for 
their services for the past year. 
xxii.-xxiii. 
