( i'^ ) 



;iili'(iMutc j)ic.liux' i>r u clinsiilis : position of tiiu gla/A'd |iiirlioiis ot' tiu' eye ; 

 lcii,i;tii of the lonyiie ; [Ulterior femur (extorually visiiih' or iml): slriu^ture uC 

 sligiu;ilie,;il ureas of the iilnl()iueii ; shape ami ariuature of the ereiiiasler. 



The luuuliei' of iiKli\iiiiials and speeii's of Siil,in(j'nhic c-oiitaiiied in the 

 IVin.i;- Alusenni is eonsideralde, there lieing in the collection ni'arl\- Hi, nun speci- 

 niens, lielonging to (.)(i<i-odd s]iecic^. Though tin's inalevial is sastly larg<'r I han 

 thai contained in any other collection, it was nevertheless not sniiicieut to form 

 the basis of a thorough revisiou of the family. Since many of the species of 

 Spliuiijidiii' are very dilHcult to distinguish, and tlierefore the descriptions and 

 often also the tignres not exact enough, it was necessary for us to examine the 

 sj)ecimens on which the names proposed by previous authors were founded, in 

 (U'der to find out how many species are known and which are the [iroper names 

 for them. 



It has been our good foi'tnne to have our ap[ieal for help addi'i^ssed to 

 private collectors ami museums responded to with the greatest lib<u-alily.-' 

 ^Vilhout this kind assistance it would have been altogether impossible to 

 disentangle the synonymy and to firing the species which were insulticiently 

 described iido their proper place in our classitication. We gratefully acknow- 

 ledge liei'e the help received from the authorities tif the British Museum, of 

 the Museums at Oxford (Hope Department), Dublin, I'aris, Uruxelles, Berlin, 

 Dresden. Jliinehen, Stettin. < 'openhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, Madrid, New York, 

 and Brisbane : and we are no less grateful for the kind assistance rentlered 

 by II. Druce. h. W. Distant, W. tScliaus, Colonel Swinhoe, M. ('. Piepers, 

 r. ( '. T. Snellen, G. Weymer, G. Semper, Dr. A. Pagenstecber, A. Bang-Haas 

 (coll. Staudinger), P. Doguin, P. Mabille, Dr. W. J. Holland, and Charles 

 Obertliiir ; who all either sent us photographs, types, and other specimens, or 

 allowed us to visit their collections and to study the material contained therein. — 

 Mdiinia.f colleyis gnitius .' 



An important point for the satisfactory progress of our work was a 

 com])arison of the long series of types of Walker's and Boisduval's descriptions, 

 contained respectively in the magnificent collection of Mons. Charles Uberthiii' 

 and in the British Museum. A closer study of these specimens than had 

 hitherto been attempted was absolutely necessary. For Boisdnval, when 

 visiting the P>ritish Museum in the forties of the last centiu'y, had named 

 in manuscript and made notes upon the Si^jldiujidae of that collection, which 

 names were for the greater ])art adopted by Walker in is.")'), but oftcLi ;i|)plied 

 Id other s))ecies tha,n those for which Boistluval had intended them to stand. 

 This muddle became intensified by I'oisduval, who, in his monograjjli ])id)lished 



* Only two letters of iii(|iiiry have been lult ui)aii>\vtre(l. The names oi the aildre-sseos may be 

 passtd ijvLT in silence. 



