EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



In this the first of the 'Fauna of British India' Series 

 issued under my Editorship, I would wish to record my 

 sense of the loss Science has sustained through the death of 

 the late Lieutenant-Colonel C. T. Bingham, He succeeded 

 Dr. Blanford, who initiated and edited the Series for more 

 than twenty years, in 1905, and since that time devoted 

 himself unremittingly to the task he then took up. His 

 loss has been widely felt, especially amongst the workers 

 in systematic Entomology : if I may quote his own words 

 about his predecessor : — " To few, however, will that loss be 

 personally so great as to those who under his direction were 

 working for the Fauna of India series/' 



During the year 1908 Colonel Bingham was engaged on 

 his third and final volume on the Indian Butterflies. This, 

 which was to have included the families Lycanidce and 

 Hesperiidce, he left unfinished. I am happy to state that 

 Mr. H. Druce has, with the sanction of the Secretary of 

 State for India, undertaken to complete the work; but 

 owing to the constantly increasing amount of material now 

 available it will be necessary to devote a volume to each of 

 these families. 



At the time of Lieutenant-Colonel Bingham's death, 

 volumes on the following Groups had been sanctioned by 



