hecabe
and T. Aesiope), with several intermediates, from one batch of
caterpillars found feeding together on the same plant.[18] It is
therefore very probable that a considerable number of supposed distinct
species are only individual varieties.
Cases of variation similar to those now adduced among butterflies might
be increased indefinitely, but it is as well to note that such important
characters as the neuration of the wings, on which generic and family
distinctions are often established, are also subject to variation. The
Rev. R.P. Murray, in 1872, laid before the Entomological Society
examples of such variation in six species of butterflies, and other
cases have been since described. The larvae of butterflies and moths are
also very variable, and one observer recorded in the _Proceedings of the
Entomological Society for_ 1870 no less than sixteen varieties of the
caterpillar of the bedstraw hawk-moth (Deilephela galii).
_Variation among Lizards_.
Passing on from the lower animals to the vertebrata, we find more
abundant and more definite evidence as to the extent and amount of
individual variation.
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