viii INTRODUCTION. 



contributed by Mr. Atkinson. Zeller s ' Monograph of the Crambidse,' * again, published in 

 1863, records the following five species obtained from the same source : — 



Scirpophaga auriflua. Schcenobius minutellus. 



„ gilviberbis. Calamotropha Atkinsoni. 



Schcenobius punctellus. 



It must be borne in mind that all the specimens sent home by Mr. Atkinson were 

 bred by himself, and that for most of them the larvae were described ; and I cannot here 

 refrain from extracting from one of his letters to Mr. Stainton (July 11, 1856) a passage 

 which sets forth some of the difficulties which will always beset the tropical Micro- 

 lepidopterist : — 



" The smaller Tineina are especially difficult to manage : one's fingers and every thing 

 else are sticky with damp and heat ; and one can hardly live, except under a punkah. 

 You can imagine, therefore, the difficulty of pinning creatures of the size of Kepticulai, and 

 will not be surprised to hear that I have failed entirely in pinning two small species of 

 PhyUocnistis, and several other things of the like size. The Indian Tineina are certainly 

 much smaller, on the average, than those of Europe, which is singular, considering the 

 luxuriance of vegetation, and in marked contrast with the large size of the predominant 

 Diurnal Lepidoptera." 



Mr. Atkinson generally employed the short autumn vacations in excursions to places 

 within easy, reach of Calcutta ; and in 1860 he paid his first visit to Uarjiling. It was in 

 this year that he was appointed Director of Public Instruction under the Bengal Govern- 

 ment, a post which he held till he finally quitted India. I think I may say that the bulk 

 of his fine collection of Moths were captured during his repeated visits to Darjiling. His 

 wife had preceded him thither, and by simply showing a lamp against a white wall had been 

 in the habit every evening of taking numerous novelties. The exceptional richness in 

 Nocturnals of Mr. Atkinson's cabmets is due entij-ely to the systematic way in which, thus 

 aided by his wife, he attracted and collected his own specimens, instead of relying on the 

 casual captures of native collectors. When at Darjiling myself, in 1864, I witnessed the 

 success of his ambush on more than one occasion. 



I regret that his widow has not been able to find any notes of Mr. Atkinson's tour in 

 the Sikkim Hills, made in company with the late Dr. Thomas Anderson, of the Calcutta 

 Botanic Garden. He often spoke to me of this expedition, and of the useful information 

 which it obtained for him in regard to the localities and elevations in w^hich the numerous 

 so-called " Darjiling " Lepidoptera are met with. The vague indications of locality so com- 

 monly furnished by museum-labels were highly ubnoxious to him ; and I have in my 



* ' Chilouidarum et Crambidarum Genera et Species." 



