[42]

May 1841.

Waterhouse showed me some Curculios from Phillippine, most curiously marked with (a) round gemmed spot transverse lines of small dots of do & reticulated do!! The two former kinds of marking exactly same in two genera of same general form, but good genera as shown by difference in antennæ.— I should have said stated this most beautiful & peculiar character of marking in Curculioded absolutely peculiar to Phillippines — But what is more wonderful there is a Cerambyx with short horns with same general form of body & absolutely similar peculiar gemmed spot, until antennæ are unfolded no one could doubt they were the Curculios — so we have demonstrative evidence that some common cause has impressed given this tufting peculiarly on 2 genera of Curculio & by selection to on a Cerambyx — if it had only been the former we might have thought it from descent. Cerambyx shows it is not so — Just same case as, epidermis on many genera of land shells of Phillippines = several genera groups of insects peculiar to Phillippines, several most common to India—

Such cases of analogy, just as striking. Water[house] knows of in all orders, but doubts any regular law as in Swainson

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(a) some of the species vary wonderfully= whole bottles full of one variety, without one of another yet series from whole isld shows they must be same— so W. concludes they are local varieties like his case of Nebria—

Waterhouse has never seen half so strange a case. =