subject to great variation, so that there is much uncertainty as to the number of species; and variations are especially frequent in the Planorbidæ, which exhibit many eccentric deviations from the usual form of the species—deviations which must often affect the form of the living animal. In Mr. Ingersoll's Report on the Recent Mollusca of Colorado many of these extraordinary variations are referred to, and it is stated that a shell (Helisonia trivolvis) abundant in some small ponds and lakes, had scarcely two specimens alike, and many of them closely resembled other and altogether distinct species.[1]
The Variability of Insects.
Among Insects there is a large amount of variation, though very few entomologists devote themselves to its investigation. Our first examples will be taken from the late Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston's book, On the Variation of Species, and they must be considered as indications of very widespread though little noticed phenomena. He speaks of the curious little carabideous beetles of the genus Notiophilus as being "extremely unstable both in their sculpture and hue;" of the common Calathus mollis as having "the hind wings at one time ample, at another rudimentary, and at a third nearly obsolete;" and of the same irregularity as to the wings being characteristic of many Orthoptera and of the Homopterous Fulgoridæ. Mr. Westwood in his Modern Classification of Insects states that "the species of Gerris, Hydrometra, and Velia are mostly found perfectly apterous, though occasionally with full-sized wings."
It is, however, among the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) that the most numerous cases of variation have been observed, and every good collection of these insects affords striking examples. I will first adduce the testimony of Mr. Bates, who speaks of the butterflies of the Amazon valley exhibiting innumerable local varieties or races, while some species showed great individual variability. Of the beautiful Mechanitis Polymnia he says, that at Ega on the Upper Amazons, "it varies not only in general colour and pattern, but also very considerably in the shape of the wings, especially in the male sex." Again, at St. Paulo, Ithomia
- ↑ United States Geological Survey of the Territories, 1874
