402 
SEXUAL SELECTION. 
Pact II. 
to colour there is no difficulty, as any number of highly 
variable Lepidoptera could be named. One good in- 
stance will suffice. Mi-. Bates shewed me a whole series 
of specimens of Papilio sesostris and childrens; in the 
latter the males varied much iu the extent of the beau- 
tifully enamelled green patch on the fore-wings, and 
in the size of the white mark, as well as of the splendid 
crimson stripe on the hind-wings; so that there was 
a great contrast between the most and least gaudy 
males. The male of Papilio sesostris, though a beautiful 
insect, is much less so than P. children re. It likewise 
varies a little in the size of the green patch on the fore- 
wings, and in the occasional appearance of a small 
crimson stripe on the hind-wings, borrowed, as it would 
seem, from its own female ; for the females of this and 
of many other species in the -Tineas group possess this 
crimson stripe. Hence between the brightest specimens 
of P. sesostris and the least bright of P. children se, there 
was hut a small interval ; and it was evident that as far 
as mere variability is concerned, there would be no 
difficulty in permanently increasing by means of selec- 
tion the beauty of either species. The variability 
hero almost confined to the male sex; but Mr. "Wallace 
and Mr. Bates have shewn that the females of some 
other species are extremely variable, the males being 
nearly constant. As I have before mentioned the Ghost 
Moth ( Hepialus humuli ) as one of the best instances i 11 
Britain of a difference in colour between the sexes of 
moths, it may he worth adding 19 that in the Shetland 
18 Wallace on the Papiliouid® of tlie Malayan Region, in ‘ Transact. 
Linn. Soc.’ vol. xxv. 1805, p. 8, 3G. A striking case of a rare variety, 
strictly intermediate between two other well-marked female varieties, 
is given by Mr. Wallace. See also Mr. Bates, in ‘Ibne. Entomolog' 
Soc.’ Nov. 19th, 1SG6, p. xl. 
19 Mr. E. MacLacldan, ‘ Transact. Ent. Soc.’ vol. ii. part Gtk, or 
series, 18GG, p, 459. 
