

320 ME. P. H. GOSSE ON THE CLASPING-OEGANS 



bristle ; and the secondary tooth was represented by a rounded eminence, on which there 

 was a crest of stout glittering arista-. 



Papilio Bromius, Doub. (Plate XXXII. figs. 4-G.) 



Valve almost circular, margined, at the ventral edge and at the extremity, by dense 

 fringes of coarse hair-scales, and, along the dorsal edge, by sparse fine long hairs. 



Harpe, a bold triangular hollow plate of chitine with thick edges, springing from an 

 expanded base, which almost fills the basal portion of the valve-cavity, and then, rising 

 erect, throws forward a broad truncate sharp edge, cut into four great teeth. 



Uncus short, triangular, horizontal, strongly and deeply keeled. Scaphium large and 

 conspicuous, the keel bent obliquely downward, the "double teeth" replaced by a long 

 and high crest on each side, having several points. Penis of excessive length, slender, 

 wire-like, bent downwards, and conspicuously protruding between the bottoms of the 

 valves, in ,siln ; extremity shaped like a horse-hoof. 



This is one of the must instructive cases that I have met with. Having examined the 

 South-African P. Nireus in three examples, and found no difference in the structure, or 

 arrangement, or relative size, of the parts, in the three, I thought of the West- African 

 P. JBromius. The two are so much alike, in every apparent feature, as to warrant the con- 

 clusion that they are but "local variants " of one and the same species. But lo! here, 

 in these hidden organs of a function of the most vital importance to the creature, I find 

 with amazement a radical aud very extensive diversity. 



In one* the valve is trigonal, in the other circular; in one the harpe is a long spoon, 

 studded with cone-points ; in the other a horse-head with four teeth ; in one the uncus is 

 long and of extreme tenuity, in the other short, deep-keeled ; in one the scaphium bears 

 a pair of blunt erect pegs, in the other a series of compressed ridges ; in one the penis is 

 short, elevated, and terminates in a finger-point, in the other very long, depending, 

 unarmed. 



Can these be descended from a common parentage ? and are the diversities merely the 

 result of changes in the climate, soil, and food produced on a party of emigrants, in the 

 course of many generations ? Or are they not, rather, powerful, if unexpected, witnesses 

 to the primal diversity of Papilio Nireus and Papilio Bromius, as distinct creations of 

 the Almighty God ? 



Papilio Podaliritts, Linn. (Plate XXXII. figs. 7-10.) 



The valve is thin, narrow, sharp-pointed, more developed on the dorsal than on the 

 ventral side, the latter remarkably excavated toward the base; the fringe of hair-scales, 

 moderate at other parts of the margin, is so enlarged around the excavation that the 

 irregularity of outline is not readily noticed (see PI. XXXII. fig. 7). 



A hnpe, having a base as broad as the whole base of the valve, narrows at about the 

 middle, where it terminates in a summit of dark chitine, shaped somewhat like an eagle's 

 head and bcak ; looking towards the ventral side. Prom the thinness of the valve, and 

 from the readiness with which the harpe comes away, the latter is favourable for 



* See p. 32S, infra. 



