THE 
WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
“ ENTOMA GUIDQUID AGUNT NOSTRI EST FARRAGO LIBELLI.” 
No. 17.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1862. [Price 2d. 
ALLIED SPECIES. 
W iELSl’S? do we mean by allied 
species ? This is a question 
■which different people answer in 
different ways. Some would say that 
«llied species were those in which the 
process of separation had not reached 
maturity. These are Mr. Darwin’s 
followers. Mr. Bree on the other 
hand declares that species are “ not 
transmutahle.” Every one is aware 
that the transmutability of species is 
a theory which, if pursued to any 
great length, leads us to very absurd 
conclusions. Nor, indeed, is there 
anything very inviting in the notion 
that there is no fixed law in Nature 
which hinders a single species from 
being continually split up and 
divided into numberless other species. 
For how disheartening is this con- 
sideration to the naturalist whose 
business it is to find out the sum 
total of existing species. He knows 
if he adopts the theory of transmu- 
tability, that new species (?) are 
constantly springing into being and 
that the so-called discoveries of the 
present day are perhaps in many 
cases nothing but observations of the 
progressive law of transmutation. 
It is, we think, the glory of Ento- 
mology, that while she presents the 
most startling instances of allied 
species, she bears the noblest testi- 
mony to the steadfast, unchangeable- 
ness of specific forms. Ve shall 
endeavour to show in a few words 
that it is not an a priori probability 
which has given rise to the theory of 
transmutability, but a few startling 
difficulties which appear to stand in 
the way of the orthodox views of the 
steadiness of specific characters. And 
these difficulties are we maintain only 
^ apparent difficulties, resulting from 
our limited powers of observation. 
In proportion as our researches are 
accurate and persevering, these diffi- 
culties will vanish. Ve do not 
therefore intend to show the fallacy 
of the doctrine, but merely to offer 
a few general suggestions which may 
help to throw light on what we 
believe to be the sound view of the 
matter. 
The law of resemblance is one 
which appears every where on 
Nature’s face. There is not a moun- 
tain, at whose feet we may not count 
a myriad mimic mounds, nor a 
wave of the ocean that has not its 
representatives in the ripples of the 
mountain tarn. And so long as 
