( 135) 



T. Hippotion aporodes spec nov. 



S. H. celerioni valde affinis, magis nigrescens, alls snbtns densft nigro irroratis, 

 alarum anticarnm fascia fusca postdiscali late Interrnpta. 



3 <?(? from Bibianalia, Gold (Joast, 70 miles N.W. of Diinkwa, TdO ft., October 

 and November 1909 (H. G. F. Spnrrell) ; in Mus. Brit. 



We do not find an}' strnctural diflerence from the S c? of //. celerlo, but the 

 distinctions in colour are the same in all three S S. The upper surface is a deeper 

 brownish-black, the light spots on the sides of the abdomen are less pronounced, 

 and the underside is darkened by dispersed black scales. The light band of the 

 forewing is less silvery than in //. celerio and bears two brown lines. Outside this 

 band there is in celerio an olive band in which a black line is situated that terminates 

 at a black inner-marginal spot. This olive band is replaced in the new species by 

 two lines, the proximal one being continuous and forming the outer border of the 

 pale band, while the distal one is heavy from the apex of the wing to beyond R^ 

 and thence very thin. The discal band of the hindwing is narrow and brighter 

 red than in //. celerio, the proximal red area having likewise a deeper tone than in 

 that species. 



On the underside the hindwing and the costal margin and disc of the forewing 

 are much more prominently speckled with blackish olive, and the distal margins of 

 both wings as well as tbe proximal two-thirds of the forewing are deejjer olive than 

 in celerio. 



ON THE TERM " SUBSPECIES " AS USED IN SYSTEMATIC 



ZOOLOGY. 



By the Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, Ph.D., F.R.S. 



IN his Etudes de Lepidoptcrologie Compare'e, Fascicule V. (I" Partie) (1911), 

 Monsieur Charles Oberthiir has published (pp. 307-13) some notes by 

 Monsieur Alph^raky on the terms employed or proposed by Monsieur Semenov 

 Tian-Shansky in his work on " The Species and its Subdivisions." To these 

 Monsieur Oberthiir has written a preftico " Subspecies and Morpha " (pp. 

 303-6). 



I do not as a rule like to rush into print on " nomenclatorial questions " in the 

 abstract, but I feel obliged here to join issue both with my friend M. Oberthiir 

 and with M. Alphiraky. M. Oberthiir raises objections to the term Subspecies 

 because, he says, it denotes "species in the making" — i.e. not yet completely 

 dissociated from the parent Species or Stock. He declares that while, during the 

 many years he has studied insects, he has found always "Geographical Races" 

 and "Individual Aberrations," he has never been able to trace any species showing 

 evolutionary change in progress. Moreover he is most emphatic that it is impossible 

 to say which is the oldest of a number of geographical races of a single species ; and 

 that we cannot tell how a given species arose. What I wish to point out is that 

 the term "Subspecies" is used by myself, and I think also by most modern 

 systematic zoologists, to replace the term " Varietas geographica " and not neces- 

 sarili/ to denote a "Species in the making." Monsieur AlphiTaky, however, does 



