8020 



Entomological Society. 



circumstance, if they are truly T. munda, that I should have taken two insects of that 

 species so much alike, and so widely differing from the ordinary type of T. munda, 

 without meeting with one of the ordinary type or of any other description, although 

 1 visited the same locality very many nights iu March and April. 



" I have, however, been able to commence an investigation, which I hope may 

 result in a satisfactory solution, of the ever-recurring question of distinct species and 

 varieties of Lepidoptera, — a solution which seems to me of considerable importance, 

 and to require but little trouble and attention to obtain ; and I am surprised that 

 amongst so many lepidopterists so little has been done towards promoting it. The 

 received opinions on the subject are, I believe, grounded upon theory only, and have 

 not been clearly proved to be correct; and it does appear to me that we ought not to 

 accept as a fact anything which may be, but is not, established by direct and con- 

 clusive evidence. 



"The female taken as before mentioned, on the 6th of April, 18(51, produced a 

 few eggs. The eight insects placed in a line below it I propose, for convenience, to 

 call ' the specimens in question.' They are all the insects which I have been able to 

 obtain from those eggs, and it will be observed that they are all, without any exception, 

 as nearly as possible alike in colour, markings and general appearance, and only differ 

 from the female parent in being a shade lighter and less red in colour. The larvae 

 were precisely similar to the larvae of T. munda, so far as Dr. Knaggs and myself were 

 able to judge by comparison with larvae of the ordinary type of T. munda reared at 

 the same time. Of the character of the male parent I am unfortunately ignorant, 

 — whether it was an insect of the ordinary type of T. munda, or similar to the female, 

 or otherwise, — the female having been already impregnated at the time she was 

 captured. 



" On the right of the specimens in question is a series of T. munda, the three top 

 specimens having been bred (as 1 jama informed by Dr. Knaggs, who has kindly lent 

 them to me for comparison) from the eggs of a female of the ordinary type of 

 T. munda, and it will be observed that they vary considerably in colour and markings. 



"Messrs. Fenn have also lent me a long series of so-called 'varieties' of 

 T. munda, collected by them from various sources. 



•* On the lid of the box are five specimens of T. instabilis, produced this year from 

 the eggs of one female ; and these also vary considerably. 



" But of all these so-called ' varieties' there does not appear to be any evidence as 

 to the male parents ; and a question presents itself very strongly to my mind, — How 

 are so-Culled ' varieties' produced, and have we any positive proof of their being the 

 offspring of a male and female of one and the same species ? I have not carried my 

 experiments sufficiently far to enable me to furnish any decided proofs in answer to 

 this question, and I am sorry that my departure to New Zealand will prevent my fol- 

 lowing up the experiments to any definite conclusion ; but my friend Dr. Knaggs has 

 kindly undei taken, although not holding similar views to mine upon the subject, to 

 continue them, and is now feeding a quantity of larvae produced from eggs which I 

 have been fortunate enough to obtain from one of the specimens in question, after her 

 copulation with her own brother. If these larvae produce insects all alike, and similar 

 in colour and markings to their parents and to the other specimens in question, I 

 think it will afford a strong argument, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, 

 that what are called ' varieties ' are in fact hybrids, the produce of the union of dis- 

 tinct species, and for the following reasons, If the assumed fact, that from the 



