100 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vanessa antiopa, and among the Geometers Deiopeia pulchella, 

 ranging over a vast extent of the globe, and preserving their 

 characteristics almost unaltered in every climate. This law of 

 heredity often, too, asserts itself when we see a common generic 

 tendency to revert to some ancestral characteristic. Possibly the 

 occasional coalescing of the spots on the under side of Lycsenidse, 

 and the tendency to supplant or vary the crimson of the 

 Zygsenidge with yellow, may be explained in this way. 



The purple tints on the under side of the hind wings of some 

 Argynnidse, which from the rich hues of amathusia grade down 

 through clia, ino and paphia, and are unrepresented in its allied 

 species payidora, are very variable in their depth of tone ; and 

 the remarkable variety of paphia taken by Mr. Barrett a few 

 years ago, whose whole under side of hind wings was suffused 

 with purple, was cited as a case of reversion to an ancestral 

 type. 



Cases of sexual dimorphism were then referred to, especially 

 the blanched female aberrations which occur in the several species 

 of Collas, i.e. edusa, palceno, erate, &c. 



Reference was also made to the tailed female aberration of 

 Papilio memnon, and the author denied that secondary sexual 

 characters are more rarely found in the female than in the male, 

 as is stated by Darwin to be the case in other fields of zoology. 



After speaking of the success of Mr. Llewellyn in mating 

 melanic specimens of Tephrosia biundularia and crepuscidaria, 

 and producing thereby a long series of like forms, thus actually 

 almost producing a new species if it were kept long enough from 

 intercourse with the ordinary type, he mentioned the extra- 

 ordinary notch-winged aberration in our now domesticated 

 IAparis disjjai', which from time to time makes its appearance, 

 and which might eventually become uniform and stable in its 

 character, and recur chronically as a dimorphic variety. 



Seasonal dimorphism was then illustrated by the striking and 

 very different spring and summer broods of Vanessa levana and 

 prorsa, which were formerly reckoned as different species, and a 

 specimen of the third and intermediate form was shown, ab. 

 porima, produced by forcing the insect in winter. 



The var. callimce of Bombyx quercus was instanced as in 

 every probability having arisen from this seasonal dimorphism, 

 in parts of the country where the early autumns obliged the 



