INTRODUCTORY. 



part) are removed by Meyrick to the Psychina, a group placed 

 between that author's PyraHdina and Tortricina. The Swifts 

 (HepiaHdif) are grouped with Micropterygida-, which are 

 considered to be primitive forms 

 of Lepidoptera originating in the 

 Caddis-flies or Trichoptera — a 

 division of the Order Neuroptera. 

 Except that the Cymbiditi and 

 Arctiidas are placed just before 

 the NoctuidaL' instead of after the 

 Geometridae, the arrangement 

 of famihes, genera, and species 

 adopted in the present work is 

 very much the same as that in 

 the 1901 edition of Staudinger's 

 Catalogue. Many British ento- 

 mologists are now interested in 

 the lepidopterous insects of the 

 Pahuarctic, or at least the Euro- 

 pean, fauna, of which our islands 

 furnish but a relatively small 

 number of species. Others, who 

 at the present time are perhaps 

 but beginners, may very possibly 

 desire, later on, to extend their 

 collections and their knowledge 

 by making entomological expe- 

 ditions to various parts of the 

 continent. It seemed therefore 

 desirable that in an introductory 



book on British moths its method of arrangement should at 

 least be founded on some generally accepted system. 



Fig. 6. 

 Pale Tussock-moth at rest. 



