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A CRITICAL NOTICE OF " THE LEPIDOPTERA OF 

 PERTHSHIRE, BEING PART I. OF THE FAUNA 

 PERTHENSIS." By Dr. F. Buchanan White. 



By R. C. R. Jordan, M.D. 



Living myself in a county, which, according to the late 

 Dr. Arnold, (I quote from memory,) has, in a direct line 

 towards the east, nothing of interest nearer than the Ural 

 Mountains, and moreover does not possess so much as a 

 single peculiar plant, or I may add insect, and besides this 

 living in a large manufacturing town in that county, a list 

 of insects such as is given by a district like Perthshire cannot 

 help imparting to me the same kind of longing that a cook's 

 shop gives to a hungry man, — it is a very Barmecide's feast 

 to my imagination. 



My readers, with Mr. Birchall's Irish list fresh in their 

 minds, are not likely to underrate the importance of such 

 labours, and to overrate them would be difficult. I could 

 wish every county, or indeed every parish, possessed such a 

 chronicler; it is to be hoped, however, that when this is the 

 case the authors may fix upon some suitable uniform size, and 

 keep to it. Various kind friends are frequently sending me 

 pamphlets, and the difficulties which they give to my book- 

 binder are in some cases insuperable. The author may regard 

 this criticism as a compliment, for there would be no grum- 

 bling if the catalogue before me was not well worth pre- 

 serving; it is not a mere list of names sti'ung together, but 

 in the best sense of the term a " catalogue raisonne;" there 

 are scattered through it, remarks, clearly the notes of a 



