[107] [Figures of a remarkable case of gynandromorphism in a butterfly
(_Cirrochroa Aoris_, Doubl.) have recently been published by Prof.
Westwood (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1880, p. 113). On the right fore- and
hind-wings of a male specimen there are patches of female colouring,
thus bearing out in a very striking manner the above views concerning
the non-fusibility of characters (in this case sexual) which have been
long fixed. Complete (_i.e._ half-and-half) gynandromorphism is not
uncommon in butterflies. R.M.]
[108] [I have long held the opinion that the di- and trimorphism
displayed by certain butterflies has originated through polymorphism
from ordinary variability. I will not here enter into details, but
will only cite a few instances indicating the general direction of the
arguments. The phenomenon to which I refer is that so ably treated of
by Mr. A. R. Wallace (see Part I., p. 32, note 20) and others. One male
has often two or more distinctly coloured females, and in such cases
one form of the female generally resembles the male in colour. Cases
of polymorphic _mimetic_ females may for the present be excluded, in
order to reduce the argument to its greatest simplicity. Thus, in the
case of native species, _Colias Edusa_ has two females, one having the
orange ground-colour of the male, and the other the well-known light
form, var. _Helice_. So, also, _Argynnis Paphia_ has a normal female
and the dark melanic form var. _Valezina_. Numerous other cases might
be mentioned among exotic species; and, looking at the phenomenon as a
whole, it is seen to be one of _gradation_. For instance, our common
“Blues” (_Plebeius Icarus_, _P. Thetis_, &c.) have females showing a
complete gradation between the ordinary blue male and the brown female
coloration. In a large number of specimens of _Callosune Eupompe_
in my cabinet, collected in Arabia by the late J. K. Lord, there is
a completely graduated series of females, varying from individuals
having the scarlet tips of the fore-wings as strongly developed as in
the males, to specimens without a trace of such colouring; and the
same is the case with other species of this and allied genera. In
such instances it is only necessary for the intermediate female forms
to become extinct, in order to have true cases of dimorphism. It is
significant that in 1877, when _Colias Edusa_ appeared in this country
in such extraordinary profusion, large numbers of _intermediate forms_
were captured, these forming an uninterrupted series connecting the
normal female and the var. _Helice_. R.M.]
[109] [Many of our best describers of caterpillars, such as the late
Edward Newman, Messrs. Hellins and Buckler, &c., have described the
various forms of numerous polymorphic species, but not from the point
of view of the comparative morphology and ontogeny of the markings.
R.M.]
[110] [In Butler’s revision both these species are placed in the genus
_Hemaris_. R.M.]
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