21 
of stability, niter .se, are subject to the most amazing variation in their 
union or separation, so that a single normally five-spotted species like 
A. trifolii may present the characters of A. ionirerae, A. piir/mralis, or 
even A. enithnis, in its markings, and vhat is true of this is true in a 
greater or less degree of the whole. 
^ye have, then, left for consideration the habits of the insects, their 
relation to their environment, their specialisation to their food-plants, 
and similar factors which have helped to make them take on those 
characters which in the mass, and averaged out, as it were, make us 
consider them as species. Here we come to an interesting point, 
which we are not, perhaps, in a position to deal with at all satisfac¬ 
torily, )■/:., the eftect of environment in the fi.vity of specific characters. 
The Anthrocerid which is best known to you of those with a very 
specialised environment is A. e.ndaiix. I shall discuss the distri¬ 
bution and probable anti(piity of the species in vol. i of my “ British 
Lepidoptera.” 
The anticpiity of certain Alpine species always lands me out of 
my depth. The appearance of exactly the same Micro-lepidoptera 
—ScKijthila ai'fieiitcnia, llotijx (iljuitalis, I'aiiiiiliisia innnlirolann — as 
soon as a certain floral region is reached, identical in appeai’ance 
in the Tyrol, the Italian Alps, the Pyrenees, the Scotch llighlands, 
and the mountains of Scandinavia, always suggests to me an antifjuity 
for these species in their present form which the mind fails to realise. 
Not that I think all Alpine species are old in the sense we are now 
considering, on the contrary, 1 consider some of the Alpine species 
comparatively recent, having undergone important modifications to 
enable them to exist under more severe climatic conditions, but where 
they are subjected to less severe conditions so far as relates to competi¬ 
tion with their own kind, and where they are less subject to the attacks 
of the numerous insectivorous enemies that abound at the lower levels. 
Where, however, we have an Alpine species restricted to comparatively 
small areas separated from each other by long distances, then we 
have, it appears to me, a jirima facie case for considering the species 
an ancient one, e.;/., Melaiii/iias epiphnat, firehia lii/ea, and A’, aethinpx 
are probably among the oldest of our Erehiids, around which cluster 
groups of comparatively new species, of which these resemble most 
probably the more y)i'iiiiitive ancestral types; so that when we ai'e 
asked to believe that the Erehiids, as a family, are among the very 
oldest of om- butterflies, and that these butterflies, being Alpine, have 
been driven up by climatic conditions until they have reached that 
elevation which they loved in the (treat Ice Age, and have remained 
there ever since unchanged, a memorial of an ancestral fauna that has 
been handed down to us, I fail to see the point, and retort that in my 
mind the Krehia species of the present day are almost the most recent 
we have, and that the process of species making is still active among 
them. 
And now, gentlemen, there is little left for me to do, yet that little 
is to me of the greatest importance. To each and every one of the 
permanent officers of this Society I tender my heartiest thanks for 
their genuine co-operation, and to each and every member mysincerest 
thanks for the continued expression of friendship and goodwill for a 
period extending over three years. During that time I have made 
many friendships, some of which will have an influence which must 
