20 
I have thus brought before you, in, I fear, a very imperfect 
manner, some of the many ways in which insects are able to escape 
from their enemies. The forces tending to their destruction, on 
the one hand, and their preservation on the other, are often so 
nicely balanced that it is ouly by putting forth fresh means of 
defence to meet attacks that some species are able to survive atall. 
Into all the causes that have produc2d so many and varied means 
of defence, I have not the time, much less the ability, to enter 
to-night. But I think we may take it that on the whole they have 
been carried out by a process of natural selection, and that after all 
it is a question of the survival of the fittest. May I conclude by 
expressing the hope that I have awakened such an interest in the 
study of insect life that some ef our members may be induced to 
take up some of those branches of it that at present are not worked 
by any, viz., those of the Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptiera, &c., 
which are of an equally fascinating and interesting nature. 
After a vote of thanks had: been accorded, a short discussion 
ensued. 
April 23rd, 1895. 
Fifty members present. The President in the chair. Dr. H.G. 
Knaggs read the following instructive and interesting paper on 
VARIATION IN THE LEPIDOPTERA AND ITS CAUSES. 
I find myself rather in a fix. I am suffering from an emdarras 
des richesses. When my friend Mr. Sydney Webb kindly promised 
to lend me specimens to illustrate this lecture, I sketched out this 
paper and sent him my requirements, but I was quite unprepared 
for the grand consignment of rare varieties, many of which are 
quite unique, which Mr. Webb has, only this morning, generously 
confided to my care. Time is short, and to do these justice a 
volume would be *equired. I should like to have told you a lot 
about them, but I am afraid that what I have already seribbled 
out will be more than enough to weary you, and it is too late to 
write it over again. However, I hope that the rare chance of 
seeing a selection of the jewels of the finest British collection in 
the world will somewhat atone for my own shortcomings. I have 
avoided all technicalities, and in order to keep within reasonable 
limits, have discarded as far as possible all malformations, freaks, 
and sports, and have confined myself as religiously as I could to 
my text, namely, ‘‘ Variations and their Causes.” ) 
In the first place, many species present such divergent forms 
