' t '
INSECT MONSTROSITIES,
PLATE XXXV.
This plate is devoted to a class of Insect Monstrosities of very rare occurrence, to which hitherto but little
attention has been directed, and which are unnoticed in any of the g-eneral Introductions to the Science. The
mdwiduals in question belong- to the groui^ which has been termed gynandromorphous', the specimens partaking
of the characters of both sexes, being, generally, bilateral; the sexual characters (being for the most
part the secondary ones) of one sex being exhibited by one side of the body and its organs, and the peculiarities
of the opposite sex being seen on the other half of the insect. But, in the specimens before us, the body of
the insect appears to be unisexual, and tie sexual divarication is confined enth-ely to the secondary sexual
characters exhibited by one or more of the wings only. The peculiar import of this strange modification, in a
physiological point of view, is very difficult to be understood; and from the great rarity of the individuals, and
their small size, we can hardly hope to obtain specimens sufficient for the necessary examination of the internal
characters of the primanj sexual organs. The specimens hitherto observed belong, for the most part, to the
Diurnal Lepidoptera, in which the sexual variation in the markings and coloration of the wings quickly catches
the eye. Doubtless, however, they are more numerous than has hitherto been supposed; but they are, of course,
liable to be overlooked in the vast multitude of species of all orders, where the external sexual distinctions are
not conspicuously distinct. In some instances these modifications of the markings have been suggested to be
mere chance variations in the shape or colom- of unisexual individuals ; but as they are not unfrequently accompanied
by sexual variations in structural characters (such as the shape or size of the wings), it is impossible to
doubt that they exhibit a strange commingling of sexual distinctions.
' This name was proposed by M. Lacordaire to supersede that of Hermaphrodites, which is more strictly appKcahle
to those animals in which the generative organs of both sexes are normally included in the same individual, but which
nevertheless, require the presence of a second intlividual to effect the joint impreg-nation of the two individuals,
FAMILY—PAPILIONIDYE. SUB-FAMILY—PIERIDES. 185
LEPIDOPTERA RHOPALOCERA.
FAMILY—PAPILIONIDYE.
PAPILIO POLLUX,
(P. Castor, Semper in Wiener Ent, llonatschr, Bd. vii. 1864, p, 281, pi. XIX.)
In my Arcana Entomologica, vol. ii. pi. LXXX (September, 1844), I published figm-es of two new Indian
species of Papilio under the names of Castor and Pollux. P. Tollusc (pi. LXXX, fig. 1) has the wings above
nearly black, with very minute whitish incisures and a large white spot near the outer angle of the hind wings
divided into four parts by the veins. I have had a number of males of this species. The other species, P. Castor,
is larger, with dark brown wings, the fore wings having the white incisures gradually enlarged in size to the
inner angle, and a row of nine submarginal whitish spots ; whilst the hind wings have a submarginal row of
seven arrow-headed markings and a broad row of spots between them and the middle of the wing. These broad
spots are cream eolom-ed and very decided in the male in the Oxford Museum, which is altogether darker than
the females, which have these broad spots suffused with greenish brown scales, and of larger size, especially on
the under side, where they extend into the discoidal cell, separated by the veins. The hind wings of the male
are of the same shape as in the female, whereas in P. Pollux, male, they are more elongated, the third branch
of the median vein terminating in a lobe more produced than the rest.
By all subsequent writers these two species have been erroneously considered as sexes of one and the same
species.
In the Wiener Entom. Monatschr., as quoted above, Mr. George Semper of Altona, adopting the same
opinion, has published figures of a remarkable specimen of P. Pollux (under the name of P. Castor), of which he
has been so good as to send me a photograph, of which both the left wings are of the ordinary female character,
as are also the anterior half of the fore- and inner (or anal) half of the hind-wings on the right side; whilst
h
more than the inner half of the fore- and the outer or costal half of the hind-wing on the same right side are
irregularly much darker and lighter, partaking of the charactcrs of the darker male and lighter female. S D-B-FAMILY—PIERIDES.
P I E R I 8 PTEKHA.
PLATE XXXV, Pio, 1,
This is a very interesting example of the class of monsters above described, involving also the theory of
'Mimicry' which has lately been upheld to a considerable degree by the supporters of the Darwinian theory of
Evolution. The family Pierides is typically well represented by our common garden white butterflies, white
and yellow being the general colours of the great mass of the species, the fore wings generally also being tipped
with black. In this particular species, the male, on the upper surface of its wings (as seen on the left side of
figure 1), follows the normal character of the sub-family; but the female has the wings varied with orange,
yellow, and black, and is, in fact, an excellent ' mimic' of some of the Helieoniidse. Some traces of this coloration
indeed are seen on the under side of the hind wings of the male, and are faintly visible through the wings
when looked at from above. The species is common in Brazil.
In the individual represented in figure 1, from Mr. Hewitson's collection, the two wings on the left side, and
the fore wing on the right side, as well as the body, are entirely masculine; whilst the hind wing on the right
side is, with the exception of a broad space along the costal margin, female. This space is, in the part towards
the body, white, as in the male; whilst the outer half of the space is singularly confused with patches of white
(male), orange, and black (female) scales.
-i i