ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 41 



Mr. Anderson also secured two specimens of Dilophonota ello, Linn, in splendid 

 condition ; and a pair of Protoparce clngulata, Fab., with the pink ornamentation 

 beautifully bright and fresh. 



A rare and interesting capture by Mr. Anderson in the early 

 part of October was a specimen of Pi/rgics t^'^seUata, Scudder, Fig. 

 26, fresh and in fine condition. It wag in company with another, 

 which he did not secure. This attractive butterfly has been 

 reported once before from Ontario, taken by Mr. Lowe, in 

 Essex County, and given under the synonym of Ilesperia oileics, 

 Humph. West, June, 1875. 

 Fig. 2G. 



VARIATION, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INSECTS 

 By J. Alston Moffat, London, Ont. 



" No compound of this earthly ball 

 Is like another, all in all."— Tennyson. 



Variation amongst forms of life is one of the moat interesting and evident truths 

 in nature. The causes at work producing it are receiving a marked degree of atten- 

 tion at the present time, but not more than the importance of the subject deserves. 

 No one has given thought and attention to its manifestation amongsfc living forms 

 without being subjected to difficulty and perplexity by it. It lies right across the 

 path of the investigator of the laws of life, and is the stumbling-block of the systematise 

 It cannot be ignored or thrown aside, but must be admitted, and a pl*ce given to it 

 in every system in nature that is constructed. 



The causes of variation in forms of life are many. Some of them are simple, 

 apparent and easily comprehended. Others are obscure and difficult to trace. As a 

 considerable diversity of opinion exists as to the source of its origin in nature, and 

 the present state of our knowledge does not satisfactorily explain all that we see 

 associated with it, therefore, an orderly statement in plain language of what is known 

 •on the subject may not prove objectionable to those who have got into perplexity and 

 wish to investigate the subject for themselves. 



All nature — that is, everything that comes within the range of physical investiga- 

 -tion — is controlled by unchanging law. Each portion of it has a law or laws of its 

 own, which we call the laws of its nature. We do not se3 these laws; we know of 

 their existence only by observing the uniformity of their manifestations. For instance, 

 given the same materials in the same proportions and in the same conditions, and 

 the same results will follow every time. Change one of these by ever so little, and a 

 different result will certainly be produced. Thus we have the ever-changing manifesta- 

 tions of nature from unchanging laws, through the ever changing conditions and com- 

 binations of the same materials. Life is as completely under the control of law as 

 matter, but it is infinitely more complex and difficult to trace. 



Matter has been divided into the organic and inorganic. The inorganic surface 

 of the globe is the foundation on which rest the organic forms thereof, and from 

 which they may be said to have come, as all the materials for their solid structures 

 -and sustenance "are derived therefrom. The face of this globe has been frequently 

 changed. There was a time when life could not exist upon it. When the conditions 

 became favorable, organisms appeared suitable for the conditions — low in the scale of 

 life, but neither defective nor degraded. That forms of life varied with the varying 

 conditions of the earth's surface, is conclusively demonstrated by the geological record, 

 and that the organisms of the various geological periods were as thoroughly in harmony 

 with the conditions in which they lived as are those of the present. That many of 

 the forms of life in the present are the lineal descendants of some of those of previous 

 geological periods is extremely probable, if not positively certain, but so changed la 

 appearance by altered conditions as not to be now recognizable. 



