MELANIPPE FLUCTUATA. 50 



nearly the whole of the PaUeavctic and Nearctic regions. Staudinger 

 says that he has himself taken it from the North Cape to the Straits 

 of (lihraltar ; it is not rare in many parts of Central Asia, etc. ; I 

 have a specimen from Syria; and the North American form, which 

 Criienee named idiiata, is now considered to be only a slight variety 

 of it, though Moeschler [VcrJi. :-/>. (iesdl. in Wicn, xxxiv., 803) 

 questioned this identification. 



There can, I think, be no doubt that M(ianii>pi' ihutuata is capable 

 of producing some very extreme and very interesting varieties ; but 

 whether it is, in the ordinary sense, an unusually variable species 

 seems to be a matter upon which there is some difference of opinion, 

 arising, I take it, from the geographical situation, and other special 

 circumstances, of the individual entomologist. That is to say, my 

 researches have led me to conclude that the insect is liable, under 

 normal conditions, to run into certain ;/ mores, if I may so speak, and 

 may so far abide in them in some localities that even an experienced 

 entomologist may come to deny that it is particularly variable. Thus 

 Guenee writes that, though it " varies without doubt," yet he con- 

 siders its variability has been a good deal exaggerated. On the other 

 hand, the Norwegian entomologist, Schoyen, writes [Archir for Mafhc- 

 viatih Off Xatnrridotslcab, v., p. 194) that the specimens from Fin- 

 mark vary more than those in the southern parts of the country, and 

 his compatriot, Sparre Schneider (TroinsO Mu^cninx Aarslwftcr, xv., 

 p. 75), goes so far as to say that one may occasionally come across 

 specimens so aberrant that they are hardly to be recognised. 



In this connection, the question is also suggested as to how far the 

 species lends itself to the formation of definite local races, as distin- 

 guished from mere aberrations ; and here again there is room for 

 difference of opinion, according to the individual standpoint. Thus 

 Mr. Adkin, dealing with the British Islands, has concluded that " it 

 would be wrong to assume that the species had assumed any special 

 form, other than the type, in any particular locality " {I'ror. S. Land. 

 Ent. Soc, 189-4, p. 82), and I think that to a large extent most 

 ] Jritish entomologists will be disposed to agree Avith him ; yet even 

 in our islands there are some frndeurlrs towards the formation of local 

 races here and there, as, for instance (as Mr. Porritt informs me) for 

 the Yorkshire specimens to run to the smoky forms ; and Dr. F. B. 

 White (Sciittish Xatnralist, iv., p. 173) considers that Scottish speci- 

 mens are almost invariably melanochroic ; though Mr. Home, of 

 Aberdeen, writes me that he cannot at all agree with this, both 

 extremes occurring, and the dark forms being, indeed, rather the excep- 

 tion in his experience. 



At any rate, when we take a wider survey of the species, we do 

 appear to find local variation assuming a considerable degree of 

 stability; Romanoff', in his Mnimircs snr Irs Tji'/iidn/iterrs (vol. ii., 

 p. 131) says that all the specimens caught by him at Askhabad, as 

 Avell also as the Trans-Caucasian examples, show constant differences 

 from the European, and appear to form a local race ; to this I shall 

 allude again presently. Again, the variety from Syria, and the 

 Neapolitan and the Sicilian form, all seem to show distinct charac- 

 teristics ; and one may reasonably imagine that the same is true of 

 the American var. idiiata, Gn., or Guenee would hardly have considered 

 it a distinct species ; but I have only seen one American specimen, 



