224 



In the third case, we find the proportionate dimensions of the wings 

 relied upon as another character on which lids species is to be based. 

 All Lepidopterists must know that ihis is a very variable feature ; one 

 that can at times be relied upon as pointing out the sex, but never a se- 

 cure foothold for the student of species in the Rhopalocera. In some 

 species the seasonal broods vary considerably in this particular, but even 

 then it is not a safe guide, as only by the careful measurement of thou- 

 sands of specimens would it be safe to declare the *• average" of any 

 form. This whole question of relative proportions has been treated of 

 over and again, but no one has done it in a neater manner than has Prof 

 S. H. Peabody, wlm, in the Canadian Entomologist, (Vol. 8 pp. 141-148,) 

 comments on the genera of Mr. Scudder's "Systematic Revision." He 

 thus sums up the question : " Can they mean that any difference which 

 can be formulated in the ratio of length to breadth in the same part, or 

 of length of one part to length of another part, is a difference of ulti- 

 mate structure.' * * Does this principle extend through Zoology.'' Is 

 Gen. Sheridan, who is short and stout, and who, according to President 

 Lincoln, can scratch his ankle without stooping, generically, different 

 from Gen. Sherman, who is tall and slender, and whose ankles are evi- 

 dently out of his reach ?" 



Now for the markings. The fourth character consists of separated 

 spots in the interior pair in the cell of the primaries of v.inillix, while in 

 insularis they are fused. It is the fusion of such spots or bands that 

 forms our common black variety of Papilio iiiniiis-glaticiis. Meianism 

 has long been too well understood as an aberrant or at best varietal dis- 

 position on the part of inany butterflies to merit its elevation to a speci- 

 fic character from so slight an example of its display as liere afforded. 

 At most these spots o'ivanilhB have but to thicken to a one-half greater 

 radius and they have joined. The pale specimen, already alluded to as 

 from Georgia, has not only these two spots fused, l)ut the black scales 

 thicken and run along the lower margin of the cell, join the two outer 

 spots, which are also fused, in a loop and ihen these four are joined to 

 the outer and upper of the tliree spots usually found across the disk. 

 Thus they form a rude, tip-tilted, written letter Y. 



As a fifth consideration of importance we have the fact ofHered that 

 in insularis there are hut two white dots in the four spots contained in 

 the cell of the primaries while in vanilla; the lower of the inner two is 

 also pupilled, making three spots in that species. Were Mr. INIaynard 

 a resident of this vicinity we should much like to show him insularis, 

 tv[)ical in this respect, from Tennessee and the North Carolina mountains. 

 But a hasty glance through the specimens at our disposal shows that the 

 two spotted form is as liable to turn up from Brazil, Mexico. Ha^'ti, 



