20 



I have thus brought before you, in, I fear, a very imperfect 

 mauner, some of the many ways in which insects are able to escape 

 from their enemies. The forces tending to their destruction, on 

 the one hand, and their preservation on the other, are often so 

 nicely balanced that it is only by putting forth fresh means of 

 defence to meet attacks that some species are able to survive at all. 



Into all the causes that have produced so many and varied means 

 of defence, I have not the time, much less the ability, to enter 

 to-night. But I think we may take it that on the whole they have 

 been carried out by a process of natural selection, and that after all 

 it is a question of the survival of the fittest. May I conclude by 

 expressing the hope that I have awakened such an interest in the 

 study of insect life that some ef our members may be induced to 

 take up some of those branches of it that at present are not worked 

 by any, viz., those of the Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Dipfciera, &c., 

 which are of an equally fascinating and interesting nature. 



After a vote of thanks had- been accorded, a short discussion 

 ensued. 



April 23rd, 1895. 



Fifty members present. The President in the chair. Dr. H. G. 

 Knaggs read the following instructive and interesting paper on 



VAEIATION IN THE LEPIDOPTERA AND ITS CAUSES. 



I find myself rather in a fix. I am suffering from an embarras 

 des richesses. When my friend Mr. Sydney Webb kindly promised 

 to lend me specimens to illustrate this lecture, I sketched out this 

 paper and sent him my requirements, but I was quite unprepared 

 for the grand consignment of rare varieties, many of which are 

 quite unique, which Mr. Webb has, only this morning, generously 

 confided to my care. Time is short, and to do these justice a 

 volume would be -jequired. I should like to have told you a lot 

 about them, but I am afraid that what I have already scribbled 

 out will be more than enough to weary you, and it is too late to 

 write it over again. However, I hope that the rare chance of 

 seeing a selection of the jewels of the finest British collection in 

 the world will somewhat atone for my own shortcomings. I have 

 avoided all technicalities, and in order to keep within reasonable 

 limits, have discarded as far as possible all malformations, freaks^ 

 .and sports, and have confined myself as religiously as I could to 

 my text, namely, " Variations and their Causes." 



In the first place, many species present such divergent forms 



