A further induction of melanism in the lepidopterous Insect, S elenia biiunaria esp., and its inheritance

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Abstract
By administering food containing Mn chloride to a strain of S. bilunaria, known by the use of controls to be free from heritable melanism, melanic insects were developed. This melanism was inherited as a Mendelian recessive. Certain mosaics were obtained in the critically treated brood but these, from experimental tests, seem to represent cases of induction restricted to limited areas of the soma, the germ plasm being apparently unaffected. The effect is not of the Larnarckian type, but rather illustrates a new evolutionary principle, that heritable variations may be induced by means of the food supplied. Although other explanations are not absolutely excluded, the experiments indicate that the metal Is the active agent in bringing about the observed effect.