90 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



of the new species now intends to state no more than he actually knows ; 

 as, for example, that the differences on which he founds the specific 

 character are constant in individuals of both sexes, so far as observation 

 has reached," etc. That is what I act on, and I beUeve the lepidopterists 

 of this country do the same, as a body. In Can. Ent., 21, 235, 1889, 

 Mr. Lyman says : " I hold very strongly that whenever a form is dis- 

 tinctly and easily separable from previously named species, it is entitled 

 to be treated as a good species, and to be given a specific name, until it 

 is proved to be only a variety by breeding," etc. 



Dr. Holland writes, after reading Mr. Elwes' paper : " Your course 

 in applying specific names to constant, or apparently constant, varieties, 

 is proper, no doubt. The species so called may be relegated at a later 

 time to the rank of a mere variety ; but science has been the gainer by 

 the process." Professor Rivers, in his recent paper in Psyche, holds the 

 same view. So does Mr. Grote in his new Check List. 



In illustration of the two ways of working: In 1876, I described a 

 certain yellow Colias from British Columbia as C. Eriphyle, being satis- 

 fied that it could not be Philodice, the then only described yellow species 

 of the sub-group. In 1883, I named another yellow Colias from Colorado, 

 that seemed to have distinct features, as' C. Hagenii. Year after year I 

 endeavored to get eggs of the Colorado form, and when at last I succeed- 

 ed, the butterflies resulting showed that that Hagenii and Eriphyle were 

 essentially the same thing, and both were a yellow form of the orange 

 species Eia-y theme. 



Per contra, as an example of lumping without knowledge, quite after 

 Mr. Elwes' own heart : Mr. Strecker, in his Catalogue, puts Philodice as a 

 species, and Ei-iphyle as a variety of it — not only that, but Occidentalis 

 and Chrysomelas as well, though these belong to a different sub-group 

 from Philodice. Which was the more reasonable proceeding, to lump as 

 varieties or synonymns several forms of which the lumper knew nothing, 

 or to spot them as separate, and go to work to ascertain the facts ? 



In the same way I had separated the two orange Colias, Ariadne and 

 Keewaydifi, as species, and when the opportunity came for breeding them, 

 they were proved to be polymorphic forms of Eurytheme. So two of the 

 polymorphic forms of Papilio Ajax were reckoned, not only by me, but 

 by Dr. Felder, as distinct species, till breeding showed them forms merely, 

 but deserving a name of course. By naming and separating a probable 



