Book Description

Excerpt from The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation, 1919, Vol. 6 In the 14th volume (Fascicule) of Etudes de Lepidopterologie comparee, M. Oberthur enquires whether in such times as these one ought to continue the pursuit of science; the difficulties are great, but he says time goes on all the same, age advances, for how long can he continue to work? To publish scientific works is to serve one's country, a little effort, no matter how little (we all know that M. Oberthur's slight efforts would be a great deal for most of us), is better than stopping what is already begun, he therefore decides to carry forward the objects he has in view. M. Oberthur is essentially a poet, and he expresses these conclusions and the reasons for them in the clear and artistic manner to which the French language so beautifully lends itself in his hands. He quotes a fine passage from Victor Hugo (written about 1836), defending the activity of the artist in trying times, and giving examples of how art is actually stronger and richer at such epochs. But this preface must be read, to reduce it to a resume is to spoil it. The volume begins with "Contributions to the history of Lycaena argus, and the forms, races, and species hitherto included in it." [Most British Lepidopterists (Tutt, South, Wheeler, etc.) having, following Staudinger, accepted the name argus for our British species aegon, it is necessary, therefore, to begin by pointing out that M. Oberthur uses the name for the non-British species, for which they accept the name argyrognomon.] A magnificent form of this insect is found in M. Oberthur's country, the Armorican peninsula, and justly increases M. Oberthur's interest in the species. This form (armoricana) is richly coloured and has large and bold markings, there is no other similar race described, nor apparently do aberrations often approach it. The first contribution is "On the genital armature of Lycaena argus and its varieties," by Dr. J. Reverdin. The second is the "Opinion of Dr. Courvoisier," and the third is "A New European Lycaena, Pleheius argus (argyrognomon) and aegus sp. nov.," by myself. The forms that M. Oberthur specially suggested as requiring examination included armoricana, ligurica, bellieri, and alpina, forms with definitely clistinct facies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."