} 



1 895-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. IO7 



ABERRATION, VARIETY, RACE and FORM. 



By Dr. Rodrigues Ottolengul 



(Continued from page 80, vol. vi, Ent. News.) 



Professor Packard argues against increasing the burden of 

 nomenclature ; but there is good reason why names should be 

 given, if they could only be attributed intelligently. Let us 

 suppose that a man breeds an insect and produces from the larvae 

 two distinct forms — one typical and the other sufficiently numer- 

 ous in proportion to the whole brood that it is assured to be a 

 variety rather than an aberration. According to Prof. Smith 

 and Dr. Skinner, it would be best not to name this new variety, 

 because it is known positively, despite its extreme difference in 

 appearance, to what species it belongs. He therefore merely 

 reports his work without assigning a name. Fifty years after 

 him a student discovers a form, new to him, and not in the col- 

 lections of his acquaintances. He cannot be held responsible 

 for not knowing what the first man wrote, for he might be unable 

 to obtain the work in which the record was made. He would, 

 therefore, be tempted to consider it a new species. If, however, 

 the first man named his variety the name would always appear 

 in our check lists, and the student would instantly know that his 

 supposed new form might be but a variety, and with the name in 

 the check list to suggest such a search he would look for the 

 record and find it. I think that names should be given to all 

 distinct and permanently occurring forms for this reason. In the 

 matter of varieties, if there is only the typical and one extreme 

 form, the latter being more abundant than any of the intergrades, 

 then I would name the extremes, because they, the typical and 

 the extreme, could always be dissociated from the intergrades, 

 and thus represent something distinctive. Where there are 

 several distinct forms, which can be dissociated from the inter- 

 grades, then each distinct form should receive a varietal name 

 regardless of the existence of intergrades. 



The local race should also receive a name, for it is very close 

 to a new species in the order of evolution. 



Dimorphic and sexual forms should receive names to indicate 

 to the student that they belong to a known species. 



Aberrations should rarely receive a name until found in suffi- 

 cient numbers to indicate that the prophecy of a forthcoming 

 variety might be fulfilled. I think examples of opposite sexes, 

 though only one of each were found, would suffice for this. 



