63 



markings of the imaginal wing are already visible on (lie pupa, 

 e.g. (he subniai'ginal spo(s of Vanessidae. Especially when, as van 

 Hemmklen lias pointed out, (he imaginal wiiig-pa((eni, during (he 

 beginning of its ontogenetic development, at first shows reminiseences 

 of older more generalised types, we can niiders(and, that (he pattern 

 of the wing-sheaths precisely reproduces these stages, without our 

 being obliged to assume that the imago received its colour-markings 

 from (he pupa, and (hat the lader once moved abou( on wings 

 ornamented in (he same s(yle". 



Referring to these considerations of de Mkyehe 1 should like (o 

 remark, (hat I do not in (he leas( suppose the imago (o have drawn 

 on the pupa for its colour-pa((erii, as may clearly be seen from 

 the inferences on p. 358 of my j)a[)er: On the phylogenetic signifi- 

 cance of the wing-markings of Rhopalocera, (Transact. 2'' Emom. 

 Congress, Oxford 1912), in which 1 poin( ou( (he fac(s, (hat: 

 1. only the external surface of (he wing-sheaths, harbouring (he 

 developing primaries, wear colour-markings, in con(rast (o that of 

 the secondaries hidden beneath it, while of course both pairs of 

 the imaginal wings develop a colour-pattern on both (heir surfaces; 

 and 2. (hat the primordial or vanishing pattern on these imaginal 

 wings is still more primiiive and therefore phylogenetically older 

 than the colour-pattern on the pupal sheath, so (ha( (here is as 

 li(tle reason to suppose that (he latter received its pattern from (he 

 young imaginal wing hidden in its interior, as to make the opposite 

 supposition. 



The Iransferenee of imaginal features to younger instars seems 

 probable to me also, as may be seen from (he foregoing remarks. 

 When however de Meyerk calls this transference anticipa(ed entrance 

 into activity, he must have in view the activation of latent hereditary 

 factors, and so must admit the presence of (hose fac(ors in the 

 genedcs of the species. They therefore are connected with former 

 periods of phylogenedc development, or in other words: (he colour- 

 pattern of the pupal sheaths must once have ornamen(ed the wings 

 of an insect Hying about (or at least walking about) witii them. 

 Whether (his insect was the imago or the subimago, is a question 

 for itself, but in any case dk Meyere's expression about "anticipated 

 activation" includes the inference, that he also considers the pupal 

 colour-markings as a recapitulation of a phylogenetically older stage. 



Trying to enter into his ideas, I suppose (hem to have (aken (he 

 following course: The imaginal ins(ar of Le|)idoplera was of old preceded 

 by an uncoloured pupal s(age. In the ancestry of (he recent bidtertlies 

 (he peculiar habit wns acquired, that their puj)ae no longer lived in 



