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176
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
AMPHION NESSUS (SPHINGIDAE) ATTRACTED TO FEMALE ANISOTA VIRGINIENSIS PELLUCIDA (CITHERONIIDAE)
On 24 May 1973 near McClellanville, South Carolina, an Anisota virginiensis pellucida (J. E. Smith) female emerged from a brood reared on Quercus nigra the previous August. She was put outdoors to call in males during the day. Other matters pressing, I was able to spend only short periods at the cage, during which time I saw several males of the same species and also captured three males of Amphion nessus (Cramer) that homed in directly to the cage and buzzed about trying to get in. The data follow, all times being Eastern Standard time:
Anisota virginiensis $ $ : 24 May, 1045; 25 May, 1107 and 1130.
Amphion nessus $ S : 26 May, 1415, 1416 and 1430. The most obvious possibility would seem to be a similarity in the chemical configuration of the sex pheromones of the two species, distantly related as they are. (A previous paper (Dominick, R. B. & C. R. Edwards 1971, J. Lepid. Soc. 25: 84-85) reported on the flight pattern of male Anisota virginiensis.)
Richard B. Dominick, The Charleston Museum, Charleston, South Carolina 29401.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Evolution of Melanism, The Study of a Recurring Necessity, With Special Reference to Industrial Melanism in the Lepidoptera, by Bernard Kettlewell. 1973. Clarendon Press, Oxford, xxiv + 424 p., illus. + plates. Price: $33.00 (U.S.).
This eagerly anticipated work provides a valuable compilation of the data and conclusions of Kettlewell and his associates on the phenomenon of melanism in the Lepidoptera. Although broad in scope and rich in detail, the book possesses some shortcomings which will be discussed following a resume.
The work is divided into 19 chapters (in seven major sections), followed by three appendices, a list of recorders, and a bibliography with better than 600 entries (including references through 1971). There are 38 pages of plates (35 halftone, 3 color), 14 text figures, and some 40 tables.
The book begins with a general consideration of melanism, its nature and functions (3 chapters). This introduction stresses Kettlewell's major theme that melanism has been a recurring necessity in the evolutionary histories of diverse organisms. This section is followed by one on melanism specifically in the Lepidoptera (3 chapters), which includes classifications of both adult and larval melanisms, as well as a general treatment of the phenomenon of industrial melanism, and a review of the worldwide distribution of that phenomenon.
Attention is then focused on the now-famous Biston betularia (3 chapters). The mark-release-recapture selection experiments in Birmingham and Dorset (1953-1955) are recounted, and the history and spread of the melanic forms in Great Britain are documented. Special reference is made to the frequency surveys (1952-1970) which Kettlewell has compiled from the records of nearly 170 observers, and these data are detailed in an 11-page appendix. Kettlewell then turns to consider non-industrial melanisms (3 chapters), in particular his own extensive work, including mark-release-recapture experiments, on Amathes glareosa in Shet-