( l^f5 ) 



not object to tbe term " Subspecies " quite ou the same grounds as ]\Ionsienr 

 Oberthiir. His objections take the line that as a snbstitute for "Varietas 

 geographica " it does not express its meaning so clearly, and as a consequence of 

 its modern use is likely to dangerously affect tiie stability of nomenclature. To this 

 I have to reply that on the contrary I and most of those who employ "Subspecies " 

 as a .Vfstematic term are contributing to lessen confusion. In the lOO or 170 years 

 since the time of Linnaens the term varietas has been indiscriminately used to mean 

 either a " geographical race " or a mere " iiuliviilnal aberration." As Monsieur 

 Alphdraky rightly says, Dr. Standiuger was the first modern systematist to, as it 

 were, fix more strictly the meaning of " Varietas " ; but although some of the more 

 prominent Palaearctic Xepidopterists have more or less closely followed him, 

 unfortunately zooliM/iats in i/enrral have continned to misuse this term " Varietas " 

 so much thsit it is almost impossible to clear up the confusion. 



It is for this reason that I and most other modern systematists maintain that 

 the terms "Varietas," "Variety," "Varietat," " Variete," must be excluded from 

 our nomenclature as misleading, and we have substituted for them the two terms 

 " Snbspecies " and "Aberration" which cannot be mistaken one for the other. 

 When Bates adopted the term "Subspecies" in 1801 I am of opinion that he 

 meant it to convey the meaning of a " Species iu the making," but I can certainly 

 sj)eak for myself, and I believe for most of the other users also, when I say that the 

 terra as now understood is merely a substitute for " Varietas geographica " and 

 not at all necessarily used as meaning a species not yet qnite fixed. I wish here 

 also once more to emphasise that the acknowledged modern method of writing sub- 

 specific names trinomially — thus, '■'■Papilio machann hippocratett''' — has also been often 

 most wrongly applied and understood. Trinomials can alone be used for denoting 

 Subspecies or Local Races, never for Individual Aberrations, as has been done 

 jiersistently by Monsieur Oberthiir and many others. 



