16 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
DEUTEROCOPUS, Zeller. 
This interesting little genus, which was founded by Zeller in 1852 
(Linn. Ent. VI., 402) for the reception of tengstroemi , may at once 
be recognized by the fact that the fore wing is split into three seg¬ 
ments, the normal second segment being itself subdivided to about 
half its length. (See Plate B., figure C.) 
Five “species” have been described: tengstrcemi, Z. ; ritsemce, 
Wlsm. ; rubrodactylus , Pag. ; planeta, Meyr.; famulus , Meyr.; but 
as a rule these little moths seem scarce in collections, and the specific 
characters have therefore been taken from short series or even from 
single specimens. Working in this way, it is easy enough to divide 
up the available specimens into species or forms or races, but the 
extraordinary amount of individual variation renders this grouping 
useless when larger series of examples of this genus are being dealt 
with. A few months ago I possessed seven specimens of Deutero- 
copus from Ceylon, and these were clearly separable into four 
“ species” ; in June, 1908, I caught or bred 19 other examples from 
Galle, and I have lately been able to see a specimen in the collection 
of Mr. G. B. de Mowbray ; an examination of these 27 specimens 
has convinced me that we have only one real “ species ” of this 
genus in Ceylon. It is true that this species is divisible into four 
forms, each with its distinct facies ; these I have shown in the table 
and synopsis, but the differences shown in the table must be taken 
as typical of the extremes of the various forms, and must certainly 
not be considered as invariable. Indeed, there appear to be no 
characters which do not vary from an appearance typical of one 
form into that characteristic of any of the others; perhaps the 
colour of the pectus and ventral surface of the abdomen may be 
taken as a character as constant as any. 
My opinion of these forms is that all the Ceylon specimens belong 
to one highly variable species which has already broken up into 
several well-marked subspecific forms, still fused by syngamy into 
a single species, and that these forms may be regarded as species 
in the making, ready to break away from the parent stock by the 
development of asyngamy through the effects of isolation or pro¬ 
nounced preferential mating. Meanwhile, it is convenient to treat 
the different forms as distinct for the purpose of identification of 
their specimens by local collectors. 
Since writing the above I have found D. tengstroemi abundantly 
at Hambantota, and an examination of some sixty specimens of 
this form shows that it is on the whole more constant within 
certain limits of variation than appears to be the case in the other 
three. In this case isolation, by the larval habit of feeding on a 
plant typical of the very dry districts, seems to have separated off 
this form from the other three characteristic of the wetter parts of 
the Island, and I am now inclined to consider it a true species 
