350 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sir, — I am glad to note that Mr. H. H. Lyman, in his review of my 

 paper on the Argynnids of North America, sums up the matter so well in 

 his last paragraph, wherein he states that " The whole paper shows that 

 much more knowledge is needed before a satisfactory revision of the very 

 difficult North American forms can be made." That is just what the 

 author thought, and why the paper was not called, or thought to be, a 

 Revision of the genu s Argynnis. 



When first written, it was to be read before the Chicago Entomolog- 

 ical Society, to my especial friends who knew of my interest in the genus, 

 and the paper was called " A Contribution to the Better Knowledge of the 

 genus Argynnis." The author does not want his friends to think that he 

 has yet attempted to completely solve the Argynnis puzzle, and takes this 

 opportunity to say that any satisfactory revision must be accompanied 

 by plates in natural colours, showing both the upper and under side of each 

 species, a work which can only be accomplished successfully at great 

 expense of time and money. 



The author is not a believer in the infallibility of those who name 

 species. His collection contains specimens which have been given three 

 different names by three men supposed to know the species of the genus 

 Argynnis, and specimens taken " in coitu " have been called different 

 species by well-versed students of the genus. What was stated as the 

 polygamous habits of the members of the genus was given as partial proof 

 of what the author believes to be a fact, that many so-called species are 

 varieties or hybrids. He did not, however, feel justified, without further 

 proof, in " relegating a number of names to the synonomy." 



Reference was made to the polygamous habits simply to make plain 

 the fact that some of the so-called species are freaks, the result of 

 hybridism. Naturalists, especially closet naturalists, who do not consider 

 it worth their time to study specimens alive, may reach dogmatic con- 

 clusions which are entirely satisfactory to themselves, yet which are based 

 on study of a few poor specimens, or even a single individual. The past 

 summer has added to the evidence for hybridism. A correspondent in 

 the field wrote me : " Collecting yesterday where Eurynome was rather 

 abundant, in two instances 1 found a male Eurynome paying court to 

 females of a dark species double its size, or about same size as Aphrodite. 

 If it is usual for Eurynome to form attachments outside of the species, it 

 may account for several allied forms," This writer is a live naturalist, 



