THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 305 



hope that he will examine the matter thoroughly. I believe he will find 

 that the true natural classification is not far from that which I have indi- 

 cated on larval characters. 



Finally, this is perhaps as good a place as any in which to protest 

 against Dr. Skinner's remarks in a recent number of [he /ourn. N. V. Ent. 

 Soc. Dr. Skinner says : " I may say right here that I believe the imago 

 the culmination of nature's efforts, and that while studies of transforma- 

 tions are most valuable, they will not solve the problem of specific differ- 

 ence or identity." This is not the view of a careful student of the snbject, 

 but reads like an excuse lor neglecting studies of the early stages. As if 

 the larva were not often the " culmination of nature's effort," as in 

 Apatela or the Limacodidaj, or as if the forces determining the struggle 

 for existence must always impinge most strongly on the same stage in all 

 species. 



DESCRIPTION OF TWO REMARKABLE ABERRATIONS OF 



COLIAS PHILODICE. 



BY DWIGHT BRAINERD, MONTREAL. 



We were fortunate in taking a very peculiar pair of Colias philodice 

 this summer. They were captured at Edgarlown, Mass., in a little salt 

 marsh, August loth and 14th respectively, and, though hatched during 

 the hot wave, we believe are blood relations — part of a sport brood. 



Many specimens were examined at the time, but no other departures 

 from the type found. 



Number one is a male very similar to the melanic variety figured by 

 Mr. W. H. Edwards on Plate III. of Colias in Butt. N.A., second series. 

 The colouring on trunk and appendages is normal, except that pile on 

 dorsum is mouse-gray, the collar a more decided brick-red than usual, 

 and the yellows, where present, match the deep chrome on wings. 



When caught, the whole upper surface (with exception of a dusting 

 of yellow on costal margin of the primaries and a pallid green-white strip 

 on the secondaries from costal margin to and following the radius for 

 three-quarters of its length, gradually becoming obsolete) was a deep 

 bottle-green. On drying, the marginal bands, both wings, appeared as a 

 slight, but uniform, reddish-purple stain, the indentations regularly 

 lunulate, and the nervules came prominently out in dull black lines. 



The spot on discal vein of fore wings is present and distinct, but a 

 dark blotch replaces the usual orange patch on secondaries. The rosy 

 marginal line is as in type. 



