My dear Sir,

I am much obliged for your offer to lend me Weismann’s essay on Daphnidæ which I shall be glad to read although I cannot pretend to any special knowledge of the Crustacea.¹ I want however to trace the steps which have led the author to believe in sexual selection as a cause for the colours of butterflies.

Fritz Müller’s paper on the “Odours emitted by Butterflies” was duly read at the last meeting— Bates seemed rather in doubt at to whether F. M. had conclusively demonstrated that the “fans”, “brushes” &c in Lepidoptera were really scent organs. I think there can be no second opinion about this after reading F. M’s former papers which he was good enough to send me.² We had also an interesting paper by Peter Cameron “on the larvæ of Tenthredinidæ with special reference to protective resemblance.³ I exhibited Dr. Zacharias photographs of Pterochroza—⁴ it appears that in one of the specimens the forewings had been broken off & were stuck on again hind part before so that the neuration was somewhat “mixed”:— Thus:—

Accompanying Fritz Müller’s letter & paper there was an interesting specimen which will be duly described in our “Proceedings”. It was the elongated nectary of a sp. of Hedychium which had caught a Sphinx-Moth by its proboscis— this frequently happens according to F. M. What a striking argument against the teleological theory of adaptations!⁵

Yours very sincerely, | R. Meldola.