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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 Orolina exhibits four distinct varieties,
all occurring together, and these differ not only in colour but in form,
one variety being described as having the fore wings much elongated in
the male, while another is much larger and has "the hind wings in the
male different in shape." Of Heliconius Numata Mr. Bates says: "This
species is so variable that it is difficult to find two examples exactly
alike," while "it varies in structure as well as in colours. The wings
are sometimes broader, sometimes narrower; and their edges are simple in
some examples and festooned in others." Of another species of the same
genus, H.


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