OF ORNAMENTA TION. 213 



commonest pattern in Lepidoptera, I do not know 

 of a single instance in butterflies, and only one or 

 two in moths, where such spots are seated upon 

 the veins, excepting only such as occur at the ex- 

 treme margin ; such spots, in the body of the 

 wing, are invariably placed in the interspaces 

 between the longitudinal veins. The mode of de- 

 velopment "of eye-like spots, which Darwin has 

 shown to be extremely simple, is also opposed to 

 Mr. Higgins' theory, since these have their origin 

 in a simple dark point in the interspaces, and yet 

 give rise to some of the most brilliant colors pos- 

 sessed by butterflies. 



We can hardly hope to obtain a rational ex- 

 planation of the origin and development of orna- 

 mentation in butterflies without studying the 

 color-patterns of the lower members of the same 

 order. This should be our starting-point, since 

 the mode in which the scales originate in the in- 

 dividual precludes, I conceive, all hope of assist- 

 ance from anatomical or embryological study. 

 We have, indeed, an especial advantage in study- 

 ing the numerous living types of moths, from the 

 fact that, as far as the hind wings are concerned, 

 all differentiation in coloring has been greatly re- 

 tarded by their almost universal concealment by 

 day beneath the overlapping front wings. In 

 such hind wings we find that the simplest depart- 

 ure from uniformity consists in a deepening of 



