SIO THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Lancashire, which is so like a pair of V. Ichnusa presented 

 to me by Mr. Doubleday that 1 feel constrained to call it 

 variety Ichnusa ; whilst several strange abnormal specimens 

 of the same species, in my British collection, must of neces- 

 sity be called aberrations : personally I am not inclined to 

 be very particular as to which word is used ; I think I know 

 .which is meant thereby ; and as the term variety has of late 

 years become so generally used, I fear we shall have to use 

 it for the sake of convenience, if for nothing else. In Co- 

 leoptera I quite understand how well this applies to " various 

 aberrations from their peculiar type, which are sufficiently 

 constant and isolated in their general character to appear, at 

 first sight, to be distinct from it;" and this often applies to 

 Lepidoptera from distant localities ; for instance, 1 have spe- 

 cimens of Papilio Machaon from the Swiss Alps which only 

 measure two inches and six lines in the expansion of the 

 wings, and differing considerably in the nerval markings, 

 especially on the hind wings, whilst my British specimens 

 reach three inches and six lines in the expansion of the 

 wings ; again, Pieris Ilapaj varies somewhat in England, but 

 on the Swiss Alps it is darker and more suffused, and be- 

 comes variety Bryoniae of Godart ; and this might be carried 

 much further, but as the term variety has become so general 

 when applied to any differentiation in our British specimens, 

 we may well be excused if, in describing our varieties or 

 abnormal forms, any of us use the wrong terms. 



Years ago Mr. Curtis and Mr. Dale wrote me on the 

 advisability of having our varieties figured and published, so 

 that we could all have copies of unique forms ; and whilst 

 Ihe Entomological Society of London has been sleeping, the 

 provincial Entomological Society of Lyons, in France, has 

 been doing this work beautifully, as may be seen inMilliere's 

 * New, Little-known and Aberrant Forms of Lepidoptera,' 

 published at Paris, from the Lyons Society's ' Transactions,' 

 a copy of which Mr. Doubleday has recently most kindly 

 lent me for perusal. Premising that this question of varia- 

 tion of species is now fairly opened, 1 give the list of 

 abnormal forms in my collection. 



Papilio Machaon. Two specimens having a dark dot in 

 the second mark of the central band : the yellow of one of 

 these is much darker than is usual in British specimens. Bred. 



