56 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



freely), and had them all transformed to a lot of brilliant red and black 

 forms, mottled with unchanged yellow. Again, if it had been the initiation 

 of a scientific experiment, so keen an observer as Dr. Hagen would surely 

 not have been content with a single experiment, when Colias was common 

 everywhere ; but having had his curiosity excited, would have prosecuted 

 the investigation to its legitimate conclusion. 



Again, the statement that " the supposed change of color appeared 

 after the specimen was dry," is inconsistent with the action of cyanide of 

 potassium on yellow insects, as the change is palpable while they are wet, 

 if they change at all ; and it almost involves the conclusion that the 

 change was not discovered till months afterwards, as the specimen in 

 question must certainly have been " enveloped " the same day, and the 

 envelope remained unopened until it reached the Museum. 



In conclusion, I may say that for all scientific purposes tnis specimen 

 should be ignored as having less than an infinitesimal value. Mr. Hen- 

 shaw states the case exactly (Entom. Americana, vol. i, p. 119) when he 

 says : " In regard to the Colias similar in color to Astraea, I have only 

 to say that a yellow Colias recognized in the field as closely corresponding 

 to, if not identical with others previously collected, was placed in a damp, 

 freshly prepared cyanide bottle, and when taken from the bottle the hind 

 wings were wet ; the specimen was preserved and the facts noted at the 

 express wish of Dr. Hagen." I have never seen Dr. Hagen's original 

 paper, so that I do not know at what point the particular Colias in ques- 

 tion was taken, but the accidental breakage of Mr. Henshaw's collecting 

 bottle explains the preparation of a new one ; his habit of collecting lepi- 

 doptera in the same bottle with beetles explains why the Colias happened 

 to be in the bottle, and it only remains for us to decide what insect went 

 into the bottle, that is, what particular form. Mr. Henshaw says : " Close 

 to if not identical with others previously collected," but as I find in my 

 note-book, "July 4 — Took very fine series of Colias (3 forms)," the 

 question is evidently left open. It might have been either one of these 

 or some other. Mr. Henshaw's admission just quoted, with my own 

 additions, give faithfully the history of the " specimen," and show that 

 any scientific deductions based thereon rest on a most unsubstantial 

 foundation. ' 



San Francisco, Dec. 9, 1885. 



