( vi ) 



Mr. H. J. Elwes said that he had hstened with much 

 interest to Dr. Dixey's paper, because he had recently been 

 engaged on a review of the genus Argynnis, which had been 

 largely referred to ; and as he had been able to find no good 

 characters by which that large genus could be divided, he 

 should have been glad to make use of anything suggested by 

 Dr. Dixey. But as the species to which he had mainly 

 referred were species which he looked upon as aberrant m the 

 genus, as regards their coloration and distribution, he did not 

 see his way to utilise those observations at present. He 

 thought that the exact definition of the areas in the wings in 

 which a certain type of markings were found in any group 

 of Lepidoptera, as had been done by Dr. Dixey, would be of 

 importance in studying their affinities, because in genera in 

 which the same sort of markings or ocelh were common to 

 many species, the position of those markhigs or ocelli was 

 of much more importance for purposes of specific distinction 

 than their degree of size or colour. In Parnassiiis, and in 

 many genera of Satyridct, the number and size of the ocelli 

 was very variable, whereas their position was almost invari- 

 able, and in other genera in which bands or stripes were the 

 prevalent type of markings, the length, breadth, and distinct- 

 ness of the bands was much more variable than their position 

 and direction. He thought, however, that in attempting to 

 follow out such a line of investigation as had been pursued by 

 Dr. Dixey, we ran the risk of becoming lost in a maze of un- 

 profitable speculation upon points about which we could at 

 present come to no certain conclusion ; and though he 

 recognised to the fullest extent the value of such investiga- 

 tions, when pursued by those whose previous stores of know- 

 ledge and industry of research fitted them for the difficulties 

 which they would encounter at every turn, yet he believed 

 that only one man, perhaps, in a million was gifted with the 

 mental abilities which would enable him to use that knowledge 

 in the way in which Darwin had done. And he thought that 

 the want of accurate and complete observation and definition 

 of genera and species, in this branch of entomology, was 

 still so great that most of us would do more useful work by 

 trying to increase that knowledge for the benefit of future 



