THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



g. A combination of two forms in one insect. 



Lyccena cegon duplex, " a specimen having the right-hand 

 wings plain brown, and those on the left-hand blue; at lirst 

 sight it had the appearance of an hermaphrodite, but was, in 

 reality, a female combining the two forms of that sex." Exhib. 

 by Mr. Bond at Ent. Soc. (Ent. Mo. Mag., 1873, 200). Colias 

 eclusa duplex, upper wings like helice, lower typical ; or left side 

 typical, and right lielice (Entom. xi. 52, and August, 1876). 

 Meligethes rufipes duplex. Thorax and one elytron typical, the 

 other elytron reddish (Ent. Mo. Mag., 1885, 217). — It seems 

 excessively strange that two forms should ever be combined in 

 the same insect in this manner, yet the very ordinary phenomenon 

 of the upper wings differing from the lower is, in some degree, 

 analogous. And further, a character normally peculiar to one 

 set, may become also abnormally developed on the other* (see for 

 instance the variety of Leucanla comgera, with the left lower wing 

 marked like the typical upper wings (Entom. xi. 169, and col. 

 fig). Now supposing this very rare aberration were in any 

 case to become frequent and at length typical, say by the 

 development on all four wings of the spots formally confined to 

 the upper, a specimen reverting to the ancestral type would be in 

 many respects similar to the specimens mentioned above, and 

 entirely so if there existed at the same time a spotless variety. 



Looking at the question from this point of view, it even seems 

 renicirkable that no permanent variety has been developed in 

 which the right side differed from the left, but doubtless the 

 laws of correlation have prevented this. Mr. S. Webb, however, 

 gave me some very interesting statistics concerning species of 

 Lyccena and Epnnephele in his collection, tending to show that 

 a perfect similarity of the opposite wings was tlie exception 

 rather than the rule ; and my own observations on E. JigperautJies 

 lead me to believe that the ocelli are, on the average, better 

 developed on one side than the other ; but until I have ex- 

 amined a larger amount of material I cannot say definitely. I 

 am sure all entomologists would be much indebted to those who 

 have long series of this insect, and of other spotted or oceliated 

 forms, if they would work out this matter and publish their 

 results. 



* Characters peculiar to one side may also be developed on the other ; for 

 example, Epinephelc hijpemnthcs, with ocelli developed on the upper side (Entom, 

 xix. 71). 



(To be continued.) 



[At the request of Mr. Cockerell, the trinomial system of 

 nomenclature is used in this article. — Ed.] 



