THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXVIIL] AUGUST, 189 5. [No. 387. 



VARIETY, FORM, RACE, AND ABERRATION. 

 By W. Mansbridge, F.E.S. 



Considering the amount of uncertainty and looseness 

 attending the use of the above terms, a definite expression of 

 opinion coming from some acceptable authority, and which 

 should set the matter at rest, would be eminently satisfactory to 

 all working entomologists. Of course every collector has his 

 own ideas of what constitutes a variety, but it is not probable 

 that these would cohicide with the opinions of another student 

 of similar experience. This no doubt arises from the difficulty 

 of dealing with a subject where no sharp differences exist to 

 separate all departures from the particular form accepted as the 

 type of a species. Some authors think the addition or sup- 

 pression of a spot, or a slightly lighter or darker tint in the 

 ground-colour, sufficient to characterise the specimen as a 

 variety, and proceed to endow it with a name ; other writers 

 require a greater amount of divergence, but if asked how much 

 they probably would be at a loss for a definite explanation. 

 And again, most of us, looking upon Entomology as a recreation 

 or pastime with which to charm our leisure, are predisposed to 

 treat it in a somewhat haphazard and desultory fashion that is 

 fatal to exact knowledge. 



A perusal of the views of some of the leading American 

 entomologists, published in * Entomological News ' (vol. vi. Nos. 

 1 — 4), confirms this opinion. One writer. Rev. Geo. Hulst, 

 giving no less than seven names, viz., subspecies, race, variety, 

 subvariety, forrn, variation, aberration, all being included by the 

 term variety. The accompanying definitions show a tendency 

 to overlap, and the use of the word "form" is restricted to 

 " seasonal or sexual variation somewhat permanent." The 

 majority of the authors use this term in the same sense, Prof. 

 Packard alone employing it as British entomologists do, in a 

 general manner, practically synonymous with " variety." 



ENTOM. — AUG. 1895. T 



