21 
logical matters, as possibly there may be more hidden away in known 
or unknown cabinets. 
Another subject, which seems to be of growing interest, is the 
hybridism of Lepidoptera. I have heard it asserted that there is no 
such thing as a species, and I have also heard it vigorously contradicted; 
but I should gather that most of us are inclined to think a species is 
a species, however and whenever it arrived at that condition. And 
it would appear that there is very little doubt that new species are not 
arrived at by hybridism. In the whole course of my collecting 1 have 
never once meet with a hybrid in a state of nature, although it is no 
uncommon thing to meet with different species which have paired, but 
the result, for some reason, comes to nothing, or at any rate is seldom 
found. 
It has always appeared to me that the most confused set of species 
that we have to deal with in British Lepidoptera are contained in the 
Zyyaenidae ; we have certain races of Trifolii which are strikingly 
distinct, then we have the species Lonicerae, and Meliloti, the latter 
somewhat resembling in size and shape a form of Trifolii from 
Hampshire, but, as in most races of Trifolii, the spots are very liable 
to coalesce, whereas, I believe, Meliloti seldom, if ever, shows that 
tendency. In the Entomological Record, vol. iii., page 281, there 
is a record of what was believed to be a race of six spotted Trifolii. 
but as that was written some time back the writer may have modified 
his views since then. Some years ago I paid a short visit to Lundy 
Island off the coast of Cornwall, where I found Filipendulae and 
Trifolii mixed up in a very confusing manner, and in some cases it was 
difficult to say whether the insect captured had five spots or six, but as 
they were mostly wasted it may have been largely owing to that. In 
going through our cabinets we continually come to what might be termed 
pairs of species, but though there may be strong evidences of close 
affinity, in only a few instances do they offer any real difficulty as to 
definition. In some cases the larvae decide the matter without 
hesitation, such as in Psi and Tridens, and in others there may be 
some very distinguishing mark as soon as we know where to look for it, 
as in the case Cidaria truncata and Cidaria immanata. In lmmanata 
the central line running through the under wing is more angular than 
in Russatci, although without that distinguishing mark some of the 
specimens run so closely alike that it would be next to impossible 
to say to which species they belong. Oporabia autumnaria and 
Oporabia filigrammaria are so closely allied and similar in general 
appearance that I can’t help thinking that they do not deserve the 
rank of separate species. It is true that there are some marked 
characteristics not found in both species; for instance, as far as my 
experience goes, the ova of Tiligrammaria hatch considerably before the 
ova of Autumnaria, and the larvie of Autumnaria are more uniformly 
green than in Filigrammaria, but slight characteristics of that sort may 
be attributable only to local races. The two so called species hybridise, 
with the greatest of ease, and their offspring are fertile. In 19001 had 
ova from $ FiUgrammari and $ Autumnaria, and from these I bred a 
series of hybrids in 1901, from these again I obtained eggs and bred a 
few specimens in 1902. One of these again paired with a wild 
f Autumnaria, from which I obtained a very few ova, one or two 
of which hatched, but I did not succeed in getting any through. Then 
