The Classification of Butterflies 
Varieties.— A still further subdivision is in some cases recog¬ 
nized as necessary. A species which has a wide range over an 
extensive territory may vary in different parts of the territory 
within which it is found. The butterflies of certain common 
European species are found also in Japan and Corea, but, as a 
rule, they are much larger in the latter countries than they are in 
Europe, and in some cases more brightly colored. Naturalists 
have therefore distinguished the Asiatic from the European form 
by giving the former what is known as a varietal name. Similar 
differences occur among butterflies on the continent of North 
America. The great yellow and black-barred swallowtail but¬ 
terfly known as Papilio turnus occurs from Florida to Alaska. 
But the specimens from Alaska are always much smaller than those 
from other regions, and have a very dwarfed appearance. This 
dwarfed form constitutes what is known as a local race, or variety, 
of the species. The members of a species which occur upon an 
island frequently differ in marked respects from specimens which 
occur upon the adjacent mainland. By insulation and the process 
of through-breeding the creature has come to acquire characteris¬ 
tics which separate it in a marked degree from the closely allied 
continental form, and yet not sufficiently to justify us in treating 
it as a distinct species. It represents what is known as an insu¬ 
lar race, or variety, and we give it therefore a varietal name. 
Naturalists also distinguish between seasonal, dimorphic, me- 
lanic, and albino forms. Names descriptive or designatory of 
these forms are frequently applied to them. All of this will be¬ 
come plainer in the course of the study of the succeeding pages, 
and in the effort to classify specimens which the student will 
make. 
Sex.— The designation of the sex is important in the case of 
all well-ordered collections of zoological specimens. As a mea¬ 
sure of convenience, the male is usually indicated by the sign of 
Mars, $, while the female is indicated by the sign of Venus, $. 
The inscription, “ Argynnis Diana, 6 ,” therefore means that 
the specimen is a male of Argynnis Diana, and the inscription, 
“Argynnis Diana, means that the specimen is a female of 
the same species. These signs are invariably employed by nat¬ 
uralists to mark the sexes. 
The Division of Butterflies into Families.—Without attempting 
to go deeply into questions of classification at the present point, 
64 
