Scudder.] 206 [November 25, 



birds having white young and naturally concluded that the two forma 

 are distinct species, and in the IXth volume of the P. R. R. Report 

 the A . Pealii is restored to the rank of a good species. 



But now the Smithsonian Institution is in receipt of some interest- 

 ing investigations made by Mr. N. B. Moore, which point to a differ- 

 ent solution, which is, that the two forms belong to one and the same 

 6pecies, and that these differences are indicative of neither age nor 

 sex. Like our common Strix asio, which whether in the red or the 

 brown plumage, is ever the same species without reference to age or 

 sex, so the A. rufa and A. Pealii are one and the same bird, breed- 

 ing together in either plumage and having young birds in various 

 plumage, irrespective of that of their parents. Mr. Moore's observa- 

 tions have enabled him to supply another indirect evidence of the 

 correctness of this supposition. He has found that where herons are 

 feeding together in the same water, individuals of different species do 

 not molest or interfere with the movements of one another. But, as 

 sure as a bird of its own family approaches too near it is at once at- 

 tacked and driven to a more respectful distance. Tried by this test, 

 the white and the blue birds are of the same species, as they invari- 

 ably quarrel in this manner if too nearly approached. 



Section of Entomology. November 25, 1874. 



Mr. J. H. Emerton in the chair. Twelve persons present 



The following paper was presented : — 



Remarks on the Old Genus Callidryas. 

 By Samuel H. Scudder. 



At the conclusion of his admirable monograph of the Callidryades, 1 

 Mr. A. G. Butler attempts to divide the species into groups, and with 

 a great degree of success. He places, however, all the old world 

 forms in a single genus, retaining for it ths name Catopsilia (with 

 P. crocale Cramer as type), and placing Murtia of Hiibner as a 

 synonyme. It will be a matter of surprise, however, if a further 



1 Lep. exot, parts iii-xviii. 



