214 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



"Variety" is consistently employed as a general term, and 

 "aberration" designates an unusual and rarely occurring 

 variety, erratic in its appearance, and with little or no tendency 

 to transmit its peculiarities to offspring ; although this point 

 may not have been thoroughly investigated in America, as we 

 know, from the results of pedigree-breeding, that this kind of 

 variety ^ can be produced in increasing numbers with every 

 successive brood. 



"Race" is used in its usual sense to designate a particular 

 variety or form which is restricted to a particular and perhaps 

 isolated locality, and which has been established, by breeding, 

 to belong to a particular species. 



Taking a general view of the opinions expressed, it is more 

 than anything else a question of degree, with the single exception 

 of the American specialized use of the word "form," which 

 seems more properly used in its general sense; thus it should 

 not be difficult to frame a more satisfactory set of definitions 

 than have hitherto been advanced. 



NOTES ON THE YELLOW AND OTHEE VAEIETIES OF 

 ZYGjENA TRIFOLII. 



By W. M. Christy, F.E.S. 



The following notes relate to a particular colony of Z. trifolii 

 which I only discovered in 1893, although I had been living 

 near it for years. In the year mentioned the species was 

 excessively abundant, but small in size ; I fear it will never be 

 so plentiful again. I took about a hundred specimens of the 

 yellow variety, all told. In 1894 the colony was very weak, and 

 I only found two yellow specimens among them. This year 

 (1895) the species was fairly numerous, and I was able to get 

 sixteen yellow specimens. In 1893 I removed a lot of the red 

 form to another spot where Z. trifolii did occur before, and in 

 the following year I was rewarded by finding there two yellow 

 specimens, which brought up my total for 1894 to four exam})les 

 of the yellow variety. 



Now, as to breeding the yellow variety : two of the specimens 

 taken last year laid a lot of eggs, and from these I have raised 

 over 200 moths. Not one of these is of the yellow form, but all 

 are of the ordinary crimson-red colour. On the other hand, 

 Mr. Fletcher, of Worthing, reared seven yellow examples, I 

 believe, from eggs which I sent him in 1893. 



There is no variation in the shade of colour of the yellow 

 form ; at least this is so with one exception. I have one yellow 

 example which is tinged or shaded with pinkish. 



