152 



of the Entomological Society, that because a man has not been a lepi- 

 dopterist and nothing else all his life, he has no right to speak or to 

 have an opinion on the subject. It seems to me, however, that the 

 best possible training for the study of any branch of natural history is 

 a previous acquaintance with some other branch. 



And the mere fact that Dr, Hagen'is allowed by his opponent to 

 hold a high rank in other branches would dispose me without knowing 

 personally anything of himself or his work to allow greater weight to 

 his opinions on lepidoptera. 



I have noticed that men who have studied one branch of biology in 

 one country only, are usually more reaidy to give importance to trifling 

 characters than those who have observed the marvellous variation of 

 birds, insects, and plants, in many parts of the world. Perhaps nothing 

 does so much to shake one's faith in the fixity of species as horticul- 

 ture, though breeding butterflies from the egg seems to have had the 

 opposite effect on Mr. Edwards. 



If, however, this gentleman and others had always waited till they 

 had reared an insect before describing it, neither I or any one else 

 could object, however narrow their views as to what constitutes a 

 species might be, as there would in that case be solid foundation for 

 their opinions. 



But it is quite another matter when we find a crowd of new forms 

 described on the sole evidence of one or more specimens brought on 

 by some traveller, which happen to differ slightly from those already 

 known, and when the descriptions are unaccompanied by figures, they 

 give little or no help to identification. 



To enter into the question of Papilio Machaon and its allies would 

 take more time than I can now spare, but I hope before long to show 

 that there is a much greater resemblance between the butterflies of the 

 Nearctic and PaJDsartic regions, than has been hitherto allowed by 

 most American writers. In fact, I believe that as far as butterflies go, 

 these two regions cannot be separated at all, for though numerous 

 genera occur in the warmer parts of the United States, which are not 

 represented in the old world, yet they cannot be called dominant gen- 

 era, and for the most part are either small monotypic genera or re- 

 presentatives of neotropical genera which have strayed northward and 

 been able to maintain their ground where climatic conditions are fav- 

 orable, just as in the Isastern Palaearctic region several tropical Indian 

 forms are able to exist far beyond the limits of the region to which 

 they naturally belong. I>oth in the United States and in Japan we 

 have similar instances among birds and plants, which it would be out 

 of place to mention here, though any naturalist will call to mind such 

 case-^ in geographical distribution. 



As I have, lately been studying the genus Argynnis, I will now ask 

 Mr. Edwards publicly, what I have asked privately without result, how 

 I am to distinguish with certainty from their allies the following species, 

 all of which being enumeratetl in the last part of his great work are, I 

 presume, considered by him to be worthy of recognition. 



