THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 87 



what proporlion of sexes did the butterflies arrive ? (2) Was 

 the species previously indigenous to the Bermudas ; and, if 

 not, does the food-plant of the larvae occur on the islands ? 



(3) Were the females observed to deposit any eggs ? 



(4) Would the insect in the latitude of the Bermudas hyber- 

 nate ; and, if so, at what stage of its existence ? Now, as a 

 natural consequence, if Terias Lisa is not indigenous to the 

 Bermudas, and its food-plant does not occur there, this vast 

 flight of butterflies must have perished without providing for 

 the continuance of the species. Darwinian as I am, — 

 thoroughly believing in the evolution of species, — 1 cannot 

 credit any of these interesting phenomena to " chance." 

 There must be a design in this occasional and often periodical 

 migration of species, which, in regard of insects, must neces- 

 sarily be, as a rule, only partial, after the manner described 

 by Mr. Bates, as occurring in the Amazon region, and by 

 Mr. Holdsworth, in Ceylon. There can be no doubt, I 

 think, that many of our so-called species originate first by 

 separations, as above alluded to, and then by the breeding 

 inter se of these forced insular forms. — Henry Reeks; 

 Thruxton, March 8, 1876. 



Varieties caused by the Starving of Larva. — Mr. H. Ramsay 

 Cox gives the following passage (Entom. ix. p. 58), as to 

 the effect produced upon Vanessa Urticaj in the imago slate 

 by starving the larvae: — "The Urticae, in spite of their 

 starving, came out nearly the natural size." 1 beg to say 

 that I once experienced a somewhat similar effect produced 

 in the images of Vanessa Urticae; and a query, as to which, 

 appeared in the 'Entomologist' (vol. v. p. 371). My expe- 

 rience, however, was somewhat different from that of 

 Mr. Cox, inasmuch as my specimens were very much smaller 

 than the usual size, the largest measuring one inch and 

 three-quarters, the smallest only one inch and five-sixteenths, 

 respectively, from tip to tip of fore wings. At the time I had 

 no idea of the probable cause ; but from a paragraph in 

 Newman's 'British Butterflies' (p. 54), being an extract from 

 the 'Entomologist' (vol. ii. p. 132), by Mr. J. R. S. Clifford, 

 and remembering that my larvae, like those of Mr. Cox, had 

 been left with a short supply of food, I believe the cause of 

 the small size of the imagos was attributable to the deficiencv 

 of food whilst in the larva state. My experience, as to the 



