- 
( lxviii ) 
in the two S. American starlings, Leistes superciliaris and 
Trupialis defilippii, which closely resemble each other in 
pattern, colouring, and even in many of their habits, both 
being ground-birds nesting in marshy land, both taking a 
short flight in the air to utter their execrable songs, and both 
stooping to conceal their crimson breasts at the approach of 
danger. 
‘‘ Again, many supposed mimetic forms are known not to 
occur together ; in some cases the one is a mountain form, the 
other confined to the plains (a case of this kind was com- 
mented upon some years since at a meeting of our Society, 
when a Lycaenid with an orange patch in the front wings was 
supposed to be a copy of a Teracolus*); in others the distribu- 
tion of the supposed mimetic forms is entirely different. 
“Tt has been asserted that Nature does not, like History, 
repeat itself; but this is a great mistake, for I have not 
infrequently been struck by resemblances between butterflies 
and moths inhabiting different countries ; as an instance, the 
little Agaristid moth Ophthalmis lincea and its near allies are 
remarkably like some of the species of the New World butterfly 
genus Lymnas. 
“Ts it absurd to suppose that variation tends to run in 
accordance with fixed laws and in one direction when not 
interfered with by change of temperature? I think not, for 
we note similar variations running through large groups of 
species: in the Argynnides, for instance, the black markings 
on the upper surface and the silver markings on the under 
surface run together into large patches. And if this is the 
case with species of the same genus, why not in genera of the 
same family ? 
‘Seasons undoubtedly affect whole subfamilies of butterflies 
in a similar manner, and this seems to me to indicate that the 
variation in related forms is to a great extent limited to certain 
fixed lines.”’ 
The following papers were also communicated :— 
‘“‘ Parthenogenesis in Worker Ants, with special reference to 
two colonies of Lasius niger, Linn.,” by W. C. Crawtey, B.A. 
* I was not present at the meeting, but I believe I am correct in the 
above statement. 
