232 THE ENTOMOLOGISTS RECORD. 



" var." is still used in a general sense to cover all kinds of divergence 

 which do not fall under the well defined term " ab."f 



The entrancing study of the variation of species attracted many 

 votaries, to whom the term " var." in the Staudingerian sense was much 

 too comprehensive and indefinite. First, the variations due to the con- 

 ditions of season were indicated by the new terms "gen. ass." = 

 generatio lestiva, and "gen. vern." = generatio vernali:', for the recurrent 

 summer or spring form as opposed to the typical form. That left two 

 main ideas under the term " var." : (1) the recurrent variation en- 

 countered regularly in some portion of the area inhabited by the species; 

 (2) the recurrent and apparently fixed form of a species confined to an 

 area (country, etc.) more or less definitely detaclied geographically from 

 the general area of distribution of the type form. In the latter case the 

 term " sub-sp." = sub-species, has been used by many, with the idea 

 that here we have a "species in the making," i.e., given sufficient 

 time, complete isolation from opportunities of crossing with the type 

 form, and other altered conditions, a new species would eventually 

 arise. For a variation which is localised in high altitudes and is ex- 

 clusively recurrent and which can come under none of the foregoing- 

 specialised cases of "var." it has been proposed to use "v. alt." = 

 varietas alticola. Thus we are left with the original term " var." 

 shorn of most of its significance and restricted in its application to 

 " any recurrent variation encountered regularly in some portion of the 

 area inhabited by the species" (and sub-species). There are still several 

 other terms which are used more or less indefinitely and indiscriminately 

 to cover the ideas outlined above. For example, " forma " = form 

 and " race." The word " form " seems much too indefinite and much 

 too general in its common use and significance to be used in so 

 restricted an application as to be capable of assuming the definite 

 requirement of exact terminology. The same objection can be raised 

 in the case of the word " race " but perhaps with much less force. It 

 has been used to express the idea of a recurrent and stable variation 

 occurring in the area inhabited by a form recognised as a species or 

 " sub-species," i.e., more or less coincident with the restricted applica- 

 tion of the term " var." as above. 



In the "Revision of the Sphingidae," referred to previously, Messrs. 

 Rothschild and .Jordan discuss the question at some length. They 

 point out that, " the differences between varieties of the same species 

 are characters which may be termed rudimentary specific barriers and 

 that the varieties themselves are rudimentary ( = incipient) species." 

 They clearly lay it down that by the term " sub-species " they 

 " designate nothing else but the geographically separated different 

 components of a species." All other variation is considered by them 

 as " individually or seasonally falling under the category dimorphism 

 or polymorphism," and they discard the term " var." as stated above 

 and substitute the equally unsuitable word " form," adding qualifying 



f Kothschikl and -Jordan in 1903, in their " Revision of the Sphingidae," accept 

 this situation and remark, " We understand under varieti/ not a particular category 

 of the components of a species, but employ the term for all the different members of 

 a species indiscriminately. The different categories of variation must receive 

 special terms in a precise classification and a special formula must be employed 

 for them in a precise nomenclature." (pagf! xliii.) They therefore drop the precise 

 significance to the word varietas. 



