85 



male, paying delicate attentions to Abraxas grossulariata female, we could per- 

 haps believe that those nuptially-adorned specimens of the last-named insect resulted 

 from illicit intercourse; but surely we who believe in varieties, and who call them 

 varieties, are rather hardly treated when we are told that we must prove that these — 

 what shall I call them ? — these eccentricities of genius do not exist. I wish Mr. 

 Fereday to show that they do exist. I am quite sure that if I thought so I 

 should try to prove it, and not lay on the shoulders of another the onus of proving a 

 negative. Tn our domestic animals (the horse, ox, rabbit, guinea pig, dog, cat, &c.) 

 the coloration or ornamentation varies quite as much as in the tiger or currant moth, 

 and exactly in the same way, that is, in the excess or absence of some particular 

 colour, as black, yellow or white ; yet we suspect no hybridism, for in every instance 

 the male parent is known to be specifically the same as the female. Indeed, 

 varieties are scarcely subject to our control at all ; for, whatever Mr. Gregson, 

 who may be called the victuals-doctor, may say to the contrary, I don't think 

 he could produce a stock of red Herefordshire cattle out of black Highland stots^ 

 were he to feed them for generations on carrots ; neither can 1 believe that the 

 hybrid theory will ever be established by actual experiment. Those who see one 

 tortoiseshell in a litter of tabbies, or one self-coloured example reared from a batch of 

 tiger's eggs, need not, as I conceive, trouble themselves to detect improprieties on the 

 part of the mother, or assume the consumption of unusual or unwholesome food by 

 either parent or offspring. Varieties will occur ; and should we seek an explanation 

 of them, we must investigate the subject with much greater care than we have 

 hitherto done." 



Mr. Waterhouse read a paper entitled " Observations upon the Nomenclature 

 adopted in the recently-published ' Catalogue of British Coleoptera,' having reference 

 more especially to remarks contained in Dr. Schaum's paper ' On the Restoration of 

 Obsolete Names in Entomology.' " 



Mr. W. F. Kirby read a paper " Ou the Specific Distinctions of Colias Boothii 

 and Hecla," and the following description of Coenonympha Mandane; — 



" During the extensive examination I have had to make lately of the collection of 

 Rhopalocera in the British Museum, I have met with two specimens of a Coeno- 

 nympha which appears to me to be new. I therefore describe it under the name of 



CCENONYMPHA MaNDANE, n. sp. 



Alis anticis fulvis obscurioribus ; posticis fuseescentibus, suhtus lined argenteci ; 

 fimbriis omnibus aurantiacis. 



This species expands an inch and three or four lines. Fore wings dull fulvous or 

 tawny, shading off into brown towards the hind margins ; hind wings brown, with a 

 few small marginal orange eyes in one specimen. A narrow orange line close to the 

 fringe on all the wings. Fringes ashy gray. Under side of the fore wings uniform 

 dull fulvous ; hind margin ashy gray, the orange line fading into it towards the tip. 

 Under side of the hind wings brown, greenish at the base ; the orange fringe edged 

 internally by a silvery line, within which are three or four small eyes with silvery 

 pupils. In the centre of the wing the pale band usual in the genus Coenonympha is 

 represented by two large spots. Nearer the base, on the costa, is another small eye 

 with a silvery pupil. 



Habitat, Polish Ukraine." 



