The Classification of Moths 



fact out of sight, is necessarily defective, and as unnatural as it 

 would be for a man to lop off the branches of a tree, and then, 

 laying them down side by side, declare, as he contemplated the 

 result of his labors, "This is a tree scientifically arranged." In- 

 asmuch, however, as in books and cabinets serial order must be 

 preserved, the best that the student can do is to collocate those 

 forms, which display some traces of likeness, and give some hint 

 of their common origin. 



Exceedingly different views have been entertained by natural- 

 ists in recent years in reference to the matters which we are dis- 

 cussing, and various schemes of systematic arrangement have 

 been evolved, many of which are contradictory, and not a few 

 of which appear to the unprejudiced to be more ingenious than 

 natural. Inasmuch as this book is intended for the use not so 

 much of advanced students, as of those who are entering upon the 

 study of tiie subject, it does not seem to the writer worth while 

 to encumber these pages with what would necessarily be a 

 lengthy recital of the various schemes for classification to which 

 he has alluded. He is inclined to regard the scheme which has 

 been adopted by Sir George F. Hampson in the preparation of his 

 great work upon the moths of the world, which is now being 

 issued by the Trustees of the British Museum, as upon the whole 

 as satisfactory as any which has recently been evolved. Inas- 

 much, however, as Dr. Harrison G. Dyar has quite recently pub- 

 lished a List of the Lepidoptera of the United States, which is 

 certain for many years to come to be used very largely by Ameri- 

 can students in arranging their collections, it has seemed upon 

 the whole to be best to conform the text of the present volume 

 to the serial arrangement given in Dr. Dyar's List, although the 

 writer differs very positively from the learned author of that work 

 in his views as to the position v/hich should be held in relation 

 to each other of a number of genera. The last word in reference 

 to the classification of the insects contained in this group has 

 certainly not yet been spoken by any one, and we are very far 

 from having attained in our studies to conclusions which may be 

 accepted as final. 



For the assistance of students the writer herewith gives a 

 key to the families which are represented in this book, which is 

 based upon the key given by Sir George F. Hampson in the first 



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