20 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST 



parent of them all, these differences are varietal only, and of far 

 less value than in sub-species, where slight differences are con- 

 stant. 



Breeding seems to be the only way of establishing either the one 

 thing or the other, and I have learned by observation and by 

 experience that breeding generally tends to establish and augment 

 the value of sub-species, separating them, and raising them to the 

 rank of a species, rather than to lessen the value of them and 

 reduce them to the level of varieties. 



A cent is just as certain a quantity as is a dollar; and you 

 cannot have the larger sum without the smaller ; so in butterflies, 

 we must have the smaller values as well as the broader ones. 



§ lo. Varieties. 



A variety is a form of butterfly which varies more or less, and 

 sometimes widely, from its supposed parent, and the differences 

 are not constant, but grade insensibly into one another and into 

 the parent as well, the variations apparently having been caused by 

 some climatic environment or other cause unknown ; it is then 

 called a variety of the older or better known form or species. 

 When the variation is extremely broad and excessive, it may lead 

 to a form called aberration, later to be considered, as Meiitcea 

 Mirabilis. 



I do not like the term variety, and would like to see a better 

 system prevail, for the so-called variety may perhaps be the stem, 

 and the older one the offshoot. For instance, Parnassins Smin- 

 theus was found at an early day, and thirty-four years later the 

 form Hermodur was found and was named as a variety of the 

 former ; when I fully believe that Hermodur is the stem and Smin- 

 theus the variety or offshoot. 



The simple fact of priority of discovery should really count for 

 nothing. This following rule should prevail : When one particular 

 form prevails in great numbers, is marked, constant, and free 

 from variations, it is the stem to which that offshoot belongs 

 which is variable, inconstant, and to which we look for all manner 

 of queer markings. And that is just where Hermodur and 

 Smintheus stand today. 



§ II. Aberration. 



This term is applied to a butterfly which while easily enough 

 placed in its genus, and which shows affrnity with some certain 



