The flora of my district, not far from the spots frequented by our insect, in addition to the yellow iris comprises three other species. On the neighbouring hills, among the rock-roses and the rosemaries, the dwarf iris abounds (I. chamæiris, Bertol.), with flowers of varying colour: they are sometimes purple, sometimes yellow or white and sometimes attired in a mixture of the three hues. The plant is barely a hand’s-breadth in height, but its flowers are quite as large as those of the other species. On the same hills, at points where the rains have left a little moisture, the spurious iris (I. spuria) forms a glorious carpet. It is tall, slender-leaved and decked with flowers of rare beauty. Lastly, near the brook where I have been observing the Iris-weevil, is the Gladwyn iris, or leg-of-mutton iris (I. fœtidissiina, Lin.), whose leaves, when bruised, give a faint scent of mutton and garlic. Its seeds are a fine orange-red, a specific characteristic which recurs not elsewhere. Altogether, without counting such foreigners as may have found their way into the flower-gardens around, we see four varieties of native iris at the Weevil’s disposal. They have the same sort of capsules, all equally bulky and equally rich in seeds, whose properties as food cannot differ much. Moreover the four plants flower at the same season. And of these four, which would permit her greatly to extend her race, the Weevil invariably selects the yellow iris. I have never found the insect established in the capsules of one of the other three. For what reasons does she prefer niggardly uniformity to varied abundance? The tastes of the adult insect and those of the larva must have something to say to the choice. The adult feeds on the fleshy hull of the capsules; the grub, on the other hand, lives entirely on the seeds, which are not yet hardened and are full of juice. Are the appetites of the adult insect satisfied with the fruit of any kind of iris? This can be tested. Under the trellis-work of a wire cover, I place before the Weevil some green capsules of different origins. Jumbled up with the fruits of the yellow iris are those of the dwarf iris, the leg-of-mutton iris and the spurious iris. To these I add some foreign capsules, those of the pale Turkey iris (I. pallida, Lam.) and of the great bulbous iris (I. xiphoides, Ehrh.), which differs so greatly from the others by the bulb which takes the place of the usual rhizome.