THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. o 



SPECIES, VARIETIES AND RACES.* 



BY JOHN B. SMITH, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



At the recent meeting of the Entomological Club of the A. A. A. S., 

 Dr. Horn found occasion to say that " nature lias no genera, but species* 

 only " — genera are mere artificial aids to classification, are seldom sharply 

 defined, and are of very unequal value, according as the student is inclined 

 to value characters ; nor are the same characters useful in all the orders, 

 nor indeed in the several families in the same order. 



The important part of Dr. Horn's remarks, for the present purpose, is 

 the assertion that " nature has no genera." That Dr. Horn has an 

 experience in American Coleoptera large enough to render such an obser- 

 vation from him of great weight, no one will dispute, and taking the Lepi- 

 doptera into consideration I am led by my studies to agree with him 

 thoroughly. 



Afterward, at the same meeting, Prof Fernald, than whom we have no 

 better authority on Micro-lepidoptera, stated that he was greatly interested 

 in Dr. Horn's view of genera, but for his part he would be well content to 

 have a satisfactory limit to species. 



What is a species ? The question has oft been asked, and never satis- 

 factorily answered. Dr. LeCunte long since stated in reply to that 

 question, " Alas ! we do not know." Elsewhere he defines it as " an 

 assemblage of individuals which differ from each other by very small or 

 trifling and inconstant characters, of much less value than those in which 

 they differ from other assemblages of individuals ; but who determines the 

 value of these characters ? The experienced student of that department 

 to which the object belongs ; therefore groups of individuals which are 

 recognized as such by those who from natural power and education are 

 best qualified to judge." 



This, therefore, does not quite answer the question, but leaves an ele- 

 ment of opinion in the matter. 



Not long since, Mr. W. H. Edwards, in an article on the species of 

 Papilio, says : ''I hold that every permanent form possessed of marked 

 characters which distinguish it from other forms, and which breeds true to 

 its type, so far as appears or we can know, is to be regarded as a species. 



Read before the Brooklyn Entomological Society, Nov. 29, 1884. 



