Copy of some rough notes & references about species

collected from diff^t authors.

(Some of which, but I believe not all are alluded to

in my paper. L.J.)²

M^r Gould, when exhibiting to the Zool. Soc. a collection of Raptorial Birds from Australia & the adjacent Islands, observed that most of the forms would be found to bear a striking resemblance to those inhabiting Europe; indeed the similarity was so strikingly obvious as to leave no doubt of the influence of temperature on the forms of animals.³

See some remarks on local varieties & demispecies, & the importance attached to the study of them, &c. by Is. Geoff. St Hilaire in Ed. Phil. Journ. n.s. n^o 55. pp. 55 & 65.—⁴

It appears probable, from certain observed facts, that, among the lower cryptogams, the same germ may assume several distinct forms usually regarded as distinct species according to the circumstances under w^h. it is developed.— (Carpenter. Princ. of Physiol. p. 61.)⁵

See also on the subject of species, the entire 14^th Ch. of the above work of Carpenters,—entitled—“Subordinate laws regulating the exercise of the reproductive function;—distinction of species &c—Propagation of acquired peculiarities.”—p. 414.

M^r Yarrell mentions an instance of a Common Tern, killed in December with a black head,—thus, from some morbid cause, carrying the strongest mark of its breeding plumage during the Winter. (Brit. Birds, vol. 3. p. 342)⁶

See some remarks on Hybridism by Westwood in Entom. Trans. vol. 3. p. 195,—with several instances adduced of insects of diff^t species breeding together—but nothing is mentioned w^h. invalidates the generally received law.⁷

“The objections drawn from the differences observed between the different races of domestic animals cannot in any way weaken the general principle of the fixity of species”.— See some remarks by Agassiz on species in connexion with their fossil prototypes of by-gone ages, in Ed. New Phil. Journ. vol. 33. p. 391.—⁸

Difference of size alone is no sure indication of difference of species. Temminck⁹ says (quoted by Yarrell, Brit. Birds. 3. 467.) that specimens of the Lesser black-backed Gull from the Cape of Good Hope are larger while those from the Eastern counties are smaller, than the average size of birds obtained in Europe—

See some remarks on Species & Races by Selys De Longchamps in his Faune Belge Introd. pp. vi–viii.)—¹⁰ He mentions the remarkable fact of the Fringilla domestica being the progeny of the F. cisalpina, when the latter was brought to Paris, & made to build & rear its young there.

See a List of Birds found in Corfu in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. 12 p. 416;—notice especially a yellow wagtail differing from our common one in having the head in the breeding season of a jet black, at other times of a lead-colour;— thus combining the chars. of two other species; compare with M^r Stricklands note in margin.—¹¹ Does not the whole go to throw doubt on the supposed difference of species amongst the yellow wagtails, as laid down by Gould, Yarrell, & others?—

In the same vol. of the Annals last referred to, is a record of a female Partridge that was cut off for one season from the society of the other sex,—& the circumstance was sufficient to cause a temporary assumption of a plumage resembling that of the male. (vol. 12. 453.)¹²

In the Zoologist for 1844 (p. 682) are some curious statements by Newman respecting the 3 supposed species of Butterfly—called Polyommatus agestis, P. Salmacis, & artaxerxes,—by which it appears that the first gradually passes into the last, thro’ the intermediate Salmacis,—as specimens are taken more & more northward, in passing from the S. coast of England (where Agestis wears its typical aspect)—to Edinburgh, (where Artaxerxes becomes typical.) ¹³

H. Doubleday has related that he found in his breeding-cage Smerinthus ocellatus, male, & Sphinx Ligustri, female, in copulaⁿ , whilst several individuals of both sexes, & both species, were found at the same time in the same cage. Reports of Zool. & Bot. (Ray Society) p. 243.)¹⁴

Guénée has observed that in the summer brood of Ennomos illunaria, the male moth only is slightly sprinkled with atoms, & the ground colour is a yellow, varying into rose red; on the under side, the brighter lines are rose red instead of white, the female instead of grey-green is ochre yellow; the lines of the under wings rusty yellow, often scarcely observable, & the fringes of all the wings are a lively rust-yellow, both sexes are also somewhat smaller. A similar proportion is found in illustraria. He is inclined to consider delunaria. Hub. as a corresponding variety of lunaria. Z^oly p. 246. ¹⁵

M^r. Stevenson in a Memoir on the Entomology of New Zealand, observes that there are but few Lepidoptera, some of which are very analogous to the English species, such as the painted lady & Red admiral butterflies. Ann. & Mag. N. H. vol. 17. p. 285.) ¹⁶

A writer in the “Zoologist” (Vol. 3. p. 888) has inserted the following note respecting the Vanessa antiopa—in Silesia— “This is, in general, the most plentiful butterfly here (in Silesia.) There appears to be two distinct varieties; those which appear in Spring having the border of the wings sulphur yellow, whilst the autumnal brood, like British specimens, have a white margin. ¹⁷

See also “The Zoologist” (Vol 3. p. 1198.) for a note respecting influence of the various rays of light upon the caterpillar of Vanessa io.— Several caterpillars were confined in different boxes covered with glass of different colours—and this treatment seems to have affected the development & colours of the imago. Some kept wholly in the dark, these last produced imagos in general larger than the others, & their colours brighter: other results are recorded—tho’ not being very decisive ones.—¹⁸

M^r. Sundevall says, respecting our common Kingfisher, (Alcedo ispida) which is found in Bengal,—“all the specimens which I have seen from Bengal are distinguished by somewhat brighter or purer colours from the European ones which I have had an opportunity of seeing. This is evidently an effect of the warmer climate but, besides this, the Bengalese ones always have smaller, tho’ not shorter feet than the European ones. &c— The resemblance is too great for one to assert any specific difference. (See Ann. & Mag. N. H. vol. 18. p. 4¹⁹

See a Memoir on Species (in Botany.) by M^r. Chevreul in Ann. des Sciences. Nat. (Botanique) 3^rd. Series. tom. 6. (Sep^t. 1846) p.p. 142.—214.— The title of it is as fol-lows.— “Considerations generales sur les variations des Individus qui composentles groupes appelés en Histoire Naturelle,—Variétés, races, sous especès et espèces”.²⁰

“The storks which I saw in Bengal had the beak & legs red as with us, but it occurred to me that the black between the beak & the eye in the males was somewhat broader”.— (Sundevall on the birds of Calcutta.— Ann. & Mag. N. H. vol. 19. p. 91.)²¹

A writer in the Zoologist (p. 1731) observes that “the colour of insects is little to be depended upon in the discrimination of species, since some of the most common insects in the North are of a most beautiful deep & dark colour, totally different from that of the same species taken near London, even so different as to be supposed new species; this deep colour is given them by quantity of iron in the soil which is taken up by the vegetation on which they feed.”²²

See some remarks by M^r. Strickland on some of M^r. Gould’s supposed new species of Australian birds in Report of British Association. 1844. p. 190— He says that—“Peculiarities of Climate & food will always exert a certain influence on the stature & on the intensity of colour in the same species, & so long as the proportions & the distribution of the colours remain unaltered, we should hesitate in raising the local varieties thus produced to the rank of species.”²³

See an important paper by Professor Pictet—On the succession of Organized Beings on the surface of the Earth. In Jameson’s Edinb. New Philosoph^l. Journ^l. vol. 46. p. 102.— In this memoir the subject of species is discussed at some length, & the limits of their variation in the instance of both fossil & living animals.²⁴

M^r. Gould has described a new species of Heron from India & Australia, differing only from the common Heron of Europe in being larger, and in the line of the bill having an upward tendency. (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2^nd. Series. Vol 3—p. 307—²⁵

See some remarks by M^r. M^c Andrew on the Variation of Characters in certain Mollusca, as dependant upon the depth of Sea they inhabit.— (On Marine dredging Ed. New Phil^l. Journal. Vol 46. p. 355 &c)— He observes that the most general characters of Mollusca obtained from a great depth, compared with individuals of the same species inhabiting shallow water consist in smallness of size, & deficiency in colour.— In the common Whelk (Buccinum undatum) the form becomes more elongated the greater the depth of habitat, which appears to be a law applying only to that particular species. In Fusus corneus the very reverse occurs, as it is found invariably shorter in proportion to the greater depth it frequents.—²⁶

In a paper entitled “Notes on the Ornithology of Madeira”— by E. Vernon Harcourt—in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Series 2. vol XV. p. 430. (N^o. 90 for June 1855.) is the following passage on the influence of climate on the tints of the plumage of birds. “With one exception, Madeira possesses no birds peculiar to its own shores; altho’ the influence of its genial climate exercises such a modifying power over the tints of its feathered denizens as analogy would lead us to expect. For example, the Greater Redpole, or Linet which is very abundantly met with in the island, retains its bright carmine plumage through the year; the Herring Gull, also very common, is, according to D^r. Renton, quicker by some months in obtaining its mature garb than with us; & the Black cap Warbler assumes in some instances, an intensity of colour, which has led to its being described by Sir. W. Jardine as a new species.”—²⁷

M^r. Gould in a communication to the Zool. Society in May last, respecting some birds from the Upper Amazon, remarked “that the colours of some of the more brilliant species, from a district situated towards the centre of the South American Continent, were far more splendid than those of the species representing them in countries nearer to the sea, & from this circumstance he took occasion to observe that birds from the central parts of Continents were always more brilliantly coloured than those inhabiting insular or maratime countries. This rule applies equally to birds of the same species the Tits of Central Europe being far brighter in colour than British specimens. M^r. Gould has observed that the like difference existed between specimens of the same species inhabiting Van Diamen’s Land, & the continent of Australia. He attributed this principally to the greater density and cloudiness of the atmosphere in islands & countries bordering the sea. (Ann. & Mag. N. H. June 1856. vol 17. p. 510.)²⁸

See a paper by Alfred Wallace in the Ann. & Mag Nat. Hist. N^o. 93. for Sept^r 1855. p. 184.) “On the law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species”.²⁹