328 



PSYCHE. 



[March— April 1890. 



THE ARGYNNIDES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



BY J. J. RIVERS, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA. 



In the February numero of Psyche 

 appeared a reprint from the Transactions 

 of the entomological society of London, 

 upon the North American Argynnides by 

 Henry John Elwes. Those who have 

 had the pleasure of studying Mr. El- 

 wes's treatment of the genus Parnas- 

 sius (Froc. zool. soc. Lond. iSS6), 

 must have a high and respectful opinion 

 of any other matter upon which he un- 

 dertakes to write. Mr. Elwes calls this 

 later paper a "Revision" but, it appears 

 to me more like a timely consideration 

 preparatory to a revision. The difficul- 

 ties in the way of a revision, allow me 

 to say, have not yet been surmounted ; 

 the absence of knowledge of the meta- 

 morphoses of so many forms prevents a 

 proper understanding of a true relation 

 of one form to the other. The compar- 

 ative work of the cabinets is frequently 

 of no value through the meagre material 

 and unauthenticated types, observers 

 have to deal with, causing different con- 

 clusions even among associates equally 

 able to judge. We must remember, too, 

 that the observers are but ordinary mor- 

 tals and that nature has thought it a fit 

 and proper thing to place upon the 

 workers in this Western world, a prob- 

 lem that will exhaust the love and en- 

 ergy of the next two generations of 

 lepidopterists, to solve. The insects 

 often differ but slightly from each other, 



and the variation is frequently not so 

 much in the insects as in the eyes of the 

 investigators. There are some persons 

 who can scarcely see any variation in 

 forms which to another person appears 

 entirely unlike. In the absence of biolo- 

 gic information how are we to be certain 

 of the extent of variation of a species 

 unless each is bred under careful obser- 

 vation } 



This is the method now being car- 

 ried out principally by Mr. W. H. Ed- 

 wards, the final results being given in 

 accurately drawn figures of all the con- 

 ditions and changes appertaining to the 

 natural history of each species. It was 

 getting at the life history of Collas 

 enrytheme, that furnished the facts that 

 revealed its relation to its seasonal 

 varieties, which before this, had borne 

 specific names ; and it appears to me 

 that a like course is the only safe one, 

 if we would know with what we are 

 dealing. Every person who describes 

 an insect supposes that without doubt 

 he is giving the characters of an unde- 

 scribed new form, and no author ever 

 dreams that his work is only provis- 

 ional, yet with additional knowledge 

 upon the subject, that is what it fre- 

 quently proves to be. There is, however^ 

 no prevention of this and when the true 

 information is reached these false spec- 

 ies simply drop into synonymical line. 



