significance of wing -markings. 127 



the spots of my series D, which, however, disappear 

 (with the exception of the first two) as the final pattern 

 becomes established ; and notices that the permanent 

 black spots in the median interspaces (my II. 6 and 7) 

 appear not in the place of, but on the inner (or mid- 

 wards) side of the primitive light spots. 



While entirely agreeing with Van Bemmelen as to the 

 primitive character of the spots of my series D, I do not 

 find myself able to concur with him in his conclusion 

 that they are replaced or represented by the brown or 

 black spots of the Argynnids (op. cit., p. 2-10) ; nor do I 

 consider that his opinion as to the primitive character 

 of the markings in the Danaince and Satijrida, as com- 

 pared with other Nymphaliiue, is fully borne out by the 

 facts (ibid., p. 242). Nor again, for reasons given at 

 length in my paper, can I fall in with the view that 

 P. atalanta has on the whole undergone less alteration 

 from the primitive condition than P. cardui (ibid., p. 239), 

 though this is no doubt the case with regard to the spots 

 of series D. 



Van Bemmelen, in the course of his communication, 

 refers to a paper by C. Schiiffer,* in which the latter 

 writer mentions that he has at present been disappointed 

 in his hopes of arriving at some phylogenetic results 

 from a comparison of the final with the primitive pattern 

 in the wings of butterflies, in the manner of Weismann's 

 work on the colours of lepidopterous larvae, and Elmer's 

 on the colours of vertebrates. But the earliest stage 

 observed by Schaffer (who also made use of V. urtlccB for 

 this investigation) seemed to him to show already most 

 of the characters of the final. He makes, hovv^ever, in 

 this connection, at least one remark of interest, viz., that 

 the pattern of the hind wings is longer in developing 

 than that of the fore wings, and in this he is confirmed 

 by Van Bemmelen. He moreover suggests that the 

 submarginal band results from the fusion of separate 

 spots, pointing (no doubt rightly) to its condition in 

 A. levana, P. cardui, P. atalanta, and P. gonerilla,] and 



''' " Beitrage zur Histologie der Insekten." ' Zoolog. Jahrbiich.,' 

 iii. (1889), pp. 611—652. 



f With regard to P. gonerilla, Schaffer does not seem to have 

 noticed that tlie distinct spots in the hind wing do not belong to 

 the submarginal band (IV.), but to the next series (III.), as fully 

 shown in my paper. The only indication of the submarginal band 



