VI AUTHOR S PREFACE. 



Feldcr's groups, and endeavoured as far as possible to fix 

 their types and limits, thereby bringing together a considerable 

 amount of very scattered information. 



Many interesting observations on habits, &:c., will be found 

 scattered through the present volume, including those of 

 Trogotioptera hrookcana^ with which Sir Hugh Low has kindly 

 favoured me. 



The uncertainty of nomenclature is much to be regretted. 

 Detailed explanations of the principles which have guided me 

 will be found in the Prefaces to my Synonymic Catalogues of 

 Odonata^ and of Rhopalocera Heterocera, and need not here be 

 repeated. I may, however, say that I have long been of 

 opinion that 1758, the date of the tenth edition of Linnaeus' 

 "Systema Naturce," should be regarded as the logical starting- 

 point of our nomenclature, and that I attach more importance 

 to the assignation of a type to a genus, than even to a defi- 

 nition. As regards specific names, it is a pity that so old- 

 established a name as edusa has no claim to be retained for 

 the Clouded Yellow (see pp 214, 215). But it is interesting 

 to find that in some cases the Entomologists of the last genera- 

 tion had correctly applied Linnaeus' names {e.g., Camilla to the 

 While Admiral, and fuciformis to the broad-bordered Bee 

 Hawk-Moth), whereas contemporary writers have preferred to 

 follow erroneous determinations of Continental Entomologists. 

 The first step towards arriving at correct conclusions, is to 

 eliminate obvious and palpable errors. 



Now that the present work is so far advanced, I hope to 

 make arrangements for the speedy issue of the second edition 

 of my Catalogue of " Lepidoptera Rhopalocera." 



W. F. KIRBY. 



