( i68 ) 
VARIATION IN BRITISH LBPIDOPTBRA. 
By F. Buchanan White, M.D., F.L.S., F.E.S. 
WHEN the introduction of the Linnean or binomial system 
of nomenclature, and the example and enthusiasm of the 
great Swede and his contemporaries^ had imparted new life to the 
study of nature, there was a tendency everywhere towards a multi- 
plication of specific names. Hence, in the earlier manuals and 
catalogues, forms which we now know to be merely varieties or 
conditions, are accorded full specific rank. As time went on, and 
knowledge increased, naturalists began to see that many of these 
were merely subsidiary forms, and reduced them to the rank oC 
varieties. More extended studies showed that in some cases 
even this position was not tenable, and so the names were sunk as 
mere synonyms. Many varieties were, however, retained, but the 
real significance of such forms was not understood ; no system of 
classifying them had been tried ; no attempt been made to 
account for their origin. In a word, no Darwin had arisen to 
instruct naturalists to penetrate, if possible, into the arcana naturoe. 
Now that the fauna and flora of the British Islands has been, to 
a large extent, well worked out, naturalists, who are not on the one 
hand merely collectors, nor on the other purely biologists, have 
begun to turn their attention to other matters than simply amass- 
ing material; and amongst other things have commenced to give 
a more serious study to the subject of variation and its origin. 
That the study of variation, as it occurs in wild animals and plants, 
is still in its infancy must be admitted. At the same time sufficient 
attention has been paid to it to show that not only is it one of 
much interest but of no little difficulty. For its proper elucidation 
a large amount of material, both in specimens and in observations, 
is necessary. When those have been collected, it is possible that 
problems which are still obscure may be cleared up. As a help 
to this desirable result we therefore welcome a recently published 
work-*^ on one group of the British Lepidoptera, a class of the 
Insecta which, not only on account of the number of species con- 
*"The British Noctuoe and their Varieties." By J. W. Tutt. London: 
Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Vol. i. 1891. 
