Preface 
and Dr. Harrison G. Dyar. With unfailing courtesy these gentle? 
men most generously aided me by allowing me to use the 
material in the National Collection, when it became necessary to 
do so, and in many other ways gave me invaluable help. 1 
gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Professor J. B. Smith, of 
Rutgers College, who very graciously went over the Plates con¬ 
taining the Noctuidce, thereby saving me in several instances 
from errors in determination. My best thanks are due to Mr. 
William BeutenmOller, the Curator of Entomology in the 
American Museum of Natural History, New York, for his most 
obliging courtesy and for much valued assistance. To Mrs. 
Beutenmuller’s facile fingers I owe the frontispiece and many 
illustrations in the text. To Sir George F. Hampson, of the 
British Museum, and to the Trustees of that great institution, 
a debt of gratitude is due for many favors, and especially 
for permission to use some of the illustrations employed in 
their publications. From Dr. Henry Skinner, of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and Mr. Jacob Doll, of the 
Brooklyn Institute, I received great assistance. To the Messrs. 
F. A. and H. S. Merrick, of New Brighton, Pa., to Dr. William 
Barnes, of Decatur, III., and to Mr. O. C. Poling, of Peoria, Ill., I 
return thanks for the loan of specimens used for illustration. 
The Honorable Walter Rothschild and Dr. Carl Jordan, of Tring, 
England, placed me under special obligations by permitting me to 
see advance proofs of the pages of their great work upon the 
Sphingidce. To all of these gentlemen, as well as to scores of 
others, who have lent their aid in the preparation of the book, I 
extend my heartfelt thanks. 
While recognizing its imperfections, I trust that the volume 
will accomplish much to quicken an interest, especially among 
the young people in our schools and colleges, in that beautiful 
department of scientific inquiry, which it is designed to some 
extent to illustrate. 
Director’s Office, 
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
September 8, 1903. 
ix 
W. J. H. 
