Excerpt: ...Peryphus in which the paler patches of the elytra are so remarkably unstable, or which appear to be so completely under the control of external circumstances, Pg 108 as are those of the B. Atlanticum: and indeed unless viewed in the mass, we should scarcely be inclined to recognize the same species in the many aspects which it puts on between its extremes. The examination, however, of a very large number of examples, and a careful consideration of the several localities and altitudes in which they were taken, ...
Read More
Excerpt: ...Peryphus in which the paler patches of the elytra are so remarkably unstable, or which appear to be so completely under the control of external circumstances, Pg 108 as are those of the B. Atlanticum: and indeed unless viewed in the mass, we should scarcely be inclined to recognize the same species in the many aspects which it puts on between its extremes. The examination, however, of a very large number of examples, and a careful consideration of the several localities and altitudes in which they were taken, has convinced me that there is unquestionably but a single type of form amongst my entire series, since the whole are so intimately connected, by successive gradations both of outline and colour, that it is perfectly impossible to isolate even a single specimen, or to draw a line of specific demarcation between any two consecutive members of the chain. It will be perceived, by a reference to the diagnosis, that the insect in question passes imperceptibly from nearly a pure green, through a well-defined spotted state, into one which has the elytra almost testaceous,
Read Less