Ill 
VARIABILITY OF SPECIES IX A STATE OF NATURE 45 
Orolina exhibits four distinct varieties, all occurring together, 
and these differ not only in colour but in form, one variety 
being described as having the fore wings much elongated in the 
male, while another is much larger and has “the hind wings in 
the male different in shape.” Of Heliconius Numata Mr. Bates 
says: “This species is so variable that it is difficult to find two 
examples exactly alike,” while “ it varies in structure as well 
as in colours. The wings are sometimes broader, some¬ 
times narrower; and their edges are simple in some examples 
and festooned in others.” Of another species of the same 
genus, II. melpomene, ten distinct varieties are described 
all more or less connected by intermediate forms,, and four 
of these varieties were obtained at one locality, Serpa on 
the north bank of the Amazon. Ceratina Ninonia is another 
of these very unstable species exhibiting many local varieties 
which are, however, incomplete and connected by intermediate 
forms ; while the several species of the genus Lycorea all 
vary to such an extent as almost to link them together, so 
that Mr. Bates thinks they might all fairly be considered as 
varieties of one species only. 
Turning to the Eastern Hemisphere we have in Papilo 
Severus a species which exhibits a large amount of simple 
variation, in the presence or absence of a pale patch on the 
upper wings, in the brown submarginal marks on the lower 
wings, in the form and extent of the yellow band, and in 
the size of the specimens. The most extreme forms, as well 
as the intermediate ones, are often found in one locality and 
in company with each other. A small butterfly (Terias hecabe) 
ranges over the whole of the Indian and Malayan regions to 
Australia, and everywhere exhibits great variations, many of 
which have been described as distinct species ; but a gentle¬ 
man in Australia bred two of these distinct forms (T. hecabe 
and T. ^Esiope), with several intermediates, from one batch of 
caterpillars found feeding together on the same plant. 1 It is 
therefore very probable that a considerable number of supposed 
distinct species are only individual varieties. 
Cases of variation similar to those now adduced among 
butterflies might be increased indefinitely, but it is as well to 
note that such important characters as the neuration of the 
1 Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London , 1875, p. vii. 
