170 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



the opposite direction obviously cannot be so also, and nothing but 

 such inherent tendencies as I have suggested would seem to account 

 for the facts. 



With regard to the particular species under discussion, a difficulty 

 arises as to the precise Spanish form which Staudinger had in view 

 when he named the var. occitanica. I have been carefully through the 

 whole material at the Natural History Museum, and can find nothing 

 which would in any way justify the expression " local race" as applied 

 to the forms from any part of Spain except the Pyrenees. The forms 

 from Andalusia and from " Central Spain " are most varied, and 

 with the exception of some small and light specimens from the latter, 

 every form I have seen could be almost exactly matched from Switzer- 

 land, and this, on my theory of inherent tendencies, is exactly what 

 one might expect, the dominant form of one locality (or, if the 

 expression must be admitted, the local race) being reproduced as an 

 aberration in other localities where the dominant form is a different 

 one. Except that the var. aetheria from South Russia is, as a rule, 

 rather (and occasionally much) larger, the Swiss examples — aberrations 

 again — are indistinguishable. Of these I have taken two, one at 

 Reazzino, where the tendency is towards this form, the other at 

 Martigny, where the tendency is rather in the direction of occitanica. 

 With regard to this latter, there is no Swiss specimen among Mr. 

 Tutt's which I should have called by this name ; I have only four 

 in my own collection, three of them, all $ s, being from the Pfynwald, 

 the fourth, a J , which I should regard only as closely approaching 

 this form, being from Martigny. If this name was applied by Staud- 

 inger to the small light-coloured form which appears in " Central 

 Spain," though by no means to the exclusion of other forms, then I 

 am in error in applying it to my Swiss specimens, but then also the 

 expression " magis variegata " is quite erroneous ; otherwise, I think, 

 I have applied it correctly. There is no need for a varietal name for 

 the usual Swiss Alpine form, as it is that which most nearly resembles 

 the 5 figured by Knoch, though his colouring is really much too dull 

 for any form of phoehe, and not quite so varied as is usual in the Rhone 

 Valley and its lateral valleys, e.(i., on the north side of the Simplon. 

 The statement quoted by Mr. Tutt from my Bntterfiies of Siritzerlajid 

 as to occitanica on the south side of the Pass was taken from Favre's 

 Lepidopteres du Valais, and was referred to him in the page quoted ; 

 the specimens which I have myself taken near Iselle are of a very different 

 description, and run somewhat in the direction of caucasica. The one 

 point which I wish to emphasise is my conviction that we are ri;/ht to 

 use the varietal name for specimens of the same form occurring as 

 aberrations in localities where another form is dominant, which, far 

 from causing confusion, affords a real clue to one factor in evolution ; 

 and further, to record my strong suspicion that the expression " local 

 race " is a snare and a delusion, as it is apt to imply more than is 

 supported by facts, which I believe only justify us in stating that 

 certain forms are dominant in certain localities, but are always liable 

 to turn up as aberrations in localities where the dominant form is 

 different. 



By the way, are we correct in ascribing the name phoebe to Knoch 

 (1781) ? He was the first to fi(/iire it under this name, but he refers 

 to Goze, Beitra<je, iii,, p. 366 (1779), and both he and Goze refer to 



