LORQUINIA 
Published by the Lorquin Natural History Club 
(Organized— August 1913) 
Volume 1. No. 3. Los Angeles, Cal., October 1916. Free to Me 
mbers 
THE STUDY OF VARIATION 
The problem of the evolution of living things is one of variation, 
the differences and resemblances between organisms and their parts. 
There are no two living things or parts of these which are alike. The 
reason for this variability has no explanation, except that it seems to 
be an inherent quality of all living things. But we know that these 
variations may be of some use to the possessor and that the fixation of 
the aggregate of these variations constitutes what we call a species or 
kind. We can see this going on in all stages and all around us. Some 
species seem to be stationary as regards variability, more or less, and 
others extremely variable in all directions, while still others are in in- 
termediate stages of change. The tendency to vary, and consequent 
selection of certain variations to form a species seem to result from the 
kind of environment or isolation of a certain group of individuals. 
There is already a large amount of published informatian on the 
subject of variation, but we really know too little about the commonest 
living things around us, their behavior and variability together with 
the conditions and locality in which they live. Time is an important 
factor to consider— for living things have been growing, varying and 
evolving for ages of time — but, nevertheless, we can get a little idea in 
the short time we have to observe the processes of life, and maybe, after 
a few generations of such observations, a grain of truth. "Time is as 
long as space is wide." As Huxley said: "In relation to the human 
mind, nature is boundless; and, though nowhere inaccessible, she is 
everywhere unfathomable." That is true and always will be so. So, 
let us observe carefully the things around us and put on record our 
observations. 
PYRAMEIS GARYAE, VARIETY MUEELERI (LETCHER) 
This peculiar form of one of our commonest west coast butterflies 
was named and described and subsequently listed as an aberration. Its 
