On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidæ of the Malayan region — John Shaqi
On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidæ of the Malayan regionWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidæ of the Malayan region
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Papilionidae -- Malaysia -- Geographical distribution; Papilionidae -- Malaysia -- Variation
further, that in four separate islands, in each of which I resided for
several months, the two forms of female were obtained and only one form
of male ever seen, and that about the same time M. Montrouzier in
Woodlark Island, at the other extremity of New Guinea (where he resided
several years, and must have obtained all the large Lepidoptera of the
island), obtained females closely resembling mine, which, in despair at
finding no appropriate partners for them, he mates with a widely
different species,—it becomes, I think, sufficiently evident that this
is another case of polymorphism of the same nature as those already
pointed out in _P. Pammon_ and _P. Memnon_. This species, however, is
not only _dimorphic_, but _trimorphic_; for, in the island of Waigiou, I
obtained a third female quite distinct from either of the others, and in
some degree intermediate between the ordinary female and the male. The
specimen is particularly interesting to those who believe, with Mr.
Darwin, that extreme difference of the sexes has been gradually produced
by what he terms sexual selection, since it may be supposed to exhibit
one of the intermediate steps in that process which has been
accidentally preserved in company with its more favoured rivals, though
its extreme rarity (only one specimen having been seen to many hundreds
of the other form) would indicate that it may soon become extinct.
The only other case of polymorphism in the genus _Papilio_, at all equal
in interest to those I have now brought forward, occurs in America; and
we have, fortunately, accurate information about it. _Papilio Turnus_,
L., is common over almost the whole of temperate North America; and the
female resembles the male very closely. A totally different-looking
insect both in form and colour, _Papilio Glaucus_, L., inhabits the same
region; and though, down to the time when Boisduval published his
‘Species Général,’ no connexion was supposed to exist between the two
species, it is now well ascertained that _P. Glaucus_ is a second female
form of _P. Turnus_. In the ‘Proceedings of the Entomological Society of
Philadelphia,’ Jan. 1863, Mr. Walsh gives a very interesting account of
the distribution of this species. He tells us that in the New England
States and in New York all the females are yellow, while in Illinois and
further south all are black; in the intermediate region both black and
yellow females occur in varying proportions. Lat. 37° is approximately
the southern limit of the yellow form, and 42° the northern limit of the
black form; and, to render the proof complete, both black and yellow
insects have been bred from a single batch of eggs. He further states
that, out of thousands of specimens, he has never seen or heard of
intermediate varieties between these forms. In this interesting example
we see the effects of latitude in determining the proportions in which
the individuals of each form should exist. The conditions are _here_
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