The late Hy. Doubleday. 



7 



special department which he had made almost a life study ; and so 

 great was his knowledge in it, that for years lepidopterists were very 

 loth to admit any fresh species of moth or butterfly into the British 

 list that had not been first submitted to him ; but his judgment 

 having been passed upon it, it was equally rare that the faintest 

 doubt was expressed towards the correctness of his decision. He was 

 an old correspondent of mine, as indeed he was of a great number 

 of lepidopterists, for a friendship once formed with him was rarely, 

 probably never, broken off. His kindness and unassuming manner, 

 even to those who were the merest children in the science of ento- 

 mology, won the heart of every one with whom he came in contact. 

 He had been ailing for some time, and was evidently well aware of his 

 fast-failing strength, as the last letter I received from him (dated 

 June 2nd, 1875) evidently shows. After acknowledging some larvas 

 of Pterophorus rhododactyliis which I had sent him, he wrote that he 

 had been exceedingly anxious about a cousin who had lived with him, 

 during a very severe illness, from which she had just recovered. He 

 then says : " Whether from over-anxiety or some other cause, I cannot 

 tell, but about a month ago I was suddenly taken ill with an affec- 

 tion of the heart, and congestion of the upper portion of the lungs, and 

 I have suffered terribly ever since. The difficulty of breathing and 

 constant fear of suffocation, are really worse to bear than pain. I 

 have been unable to do anything, which is a great trial to me, as I 

 spend so much of my time in the garden looking after my plants. I 

 am almost afraid I shall never again be able to do as I have done," 

 &c., &c. He is gone, but has left behind him a memory beloved by 

 every one. Men like him are scarce in these days, and entomology can 

 ill spare such a one. 



Geo. T. Porritt. 



IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A SPECIES ? 



By CHAS. p. HOBKIRK, V. P. Huddersfield Naturalists' Society. 



[The following remarks are the matter of a Paper read before the 

 Huddersfield Naturalists' Society, in May, 1875, and were called 

 forth by a discussion at a previous meeting, in which one of the 

 members stated certain opinions with which I could in no sense 

 agree.] 



These opinions were somewhat to the following effect : that species 

 are not mere arbitrary things, ranked together for the purpose of 

 classification, but that they are real natural entities, that they can be 



