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Show 1873.] MR. R. MELDOLA ON COLOURING IN INSECTS. 153 Dove of the name of which I am not sure; and these I am now sending to the care of Dr. Bennett, of Sydney, for the Society. I have had all these birds in captivity for some months, and they thrive well. " The Ptilonopus fasciatus is a favourite bird with the natives of these islands, and is kept very generally by them. Its native name is Manu-tagi (the crying bird). The Samoans train it to act as a decoy, and take it into the woods in a wicker cage open at the top. When it calls, other birds come to it and enter the cage, when they are taken by the native, who lies hidden near the spot. The birds thus taken are eaten by the natives. But this custom of decoying is going out now, in consequence of the ease with which the birds may be shot. The Ptilonopus perousii is a most beautiful bird ; but it is useless trying to send it to England: it lives for a very short time in captivity, even in Samoa. " If you wish any particular birds or other animals which at any time I can send to the Society, I shall always do my best to meet your wishes. " Yours very sincerely, " S. J. WHITMEE." A communication was read from Mr. Henry W . Piers, late Acting Curator of the South-African Museum, Cape-town, containing a description of the external form of Chimeera australis. Mr. E. Blyth, C.M.Z.S., made remarks on some Tiger-skins (Felis tigris) from India, Siam, and Siberia, lent for exhibition by Mr. Edwin Ward, F.Z.S. The following papers were read :- 1. On a certain Class of Cases of Variable Protective Colouring in Insects. By R A P H A E L M E L D O L A , F.C.S., M.Ent. Soc.Lond. (Communicated by A. G. BUTLER, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c.) [Received November 19, 1872.] Among the many classes of biological phenomena that received explanation on the appearance of the 'Origin of Species' in 1859, the principle of disguise, as it exists in most classes of the animal kingdom, but more especially in the Insecta, is one of great interest to the naturalist. In 1861 Mr. H. W . Bates, in an admirable memoir on the Lepidoptera of the Amazon Valley*, first demonstrated the identity of the causes concerned in the production of what are known as protective resemblances, and of those wonderful mimetic analogies of which he had discovered so many examples among the insects of that region, and which subsequent research has shown to exist in all tropical countries. That these causes were found in the principles of variation and heredity, a struggle for life and the * Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxiii. p. 495. |