IN BUTTERFLIES 221 



Now in all these cases of colorational antigeny, 

 it is the female and almost never the male which 

 first departs from the normal type of coloring of 

 the group to which the species belongs. Occasion- 

 ally the feminine peculiarity has been transmitted 

 to the male, and, by this means, a new type of col- 

 oration established in the group ; I recall among 

 our butterflies but one ^ case where the male alone 

 departs from the general type of coloring peculiar 

 to the group. This is precisely the opposite con- 

 clusion to that which Darwin reached. He gives 

 several examples on the authority of Bates, which 

 certainly favor his conclusion, but may, at the 

 same time, be explained from the ojDposite point 

 of view. He gives other examples from the Eu- 

 ropean blue butterflies, which not only do not sup- 

 port, but even oppose, his general statement. 



Take the case of Semn. diana, than which we 

 could hardly find a stronger, since the group 

 (Argynnini) to which it belongs is remarkably 

 uniform, exhibiting in all its numerous members 

 the same characteristic play of fulvous and black 

 markings. The male of S. diana is indeed very 



^ The Spring Azure (Cyaniris pseudargiolus), in wlixch 

 both sexes are ordinarily bkie upon the upper surface, but 

 in the south the male is sometimes brown. 



