﻿INTRODUCTION 



Thirteen years have elapsed since the publication of 

 the last complete list of North American Lepidoptera by 

 Dr. J. B. Smith. In the meantime many new species have 

 been described and — what is still more important — re- 

 visions of various groups have been made by specialists, 

 resulting in piany instances in very radical changes, so 

 that Smith's list, whilst excellent when published, has now 

 become entirely antiquated and of little use as a basis on 

 which to arrange a collection. 



It has seemed to us therefore that the publication on 

 our part of this present list may be of some value to 

 students of Lepidoptera who wish not only to arrange their 

 collections but to have before them in a concise form the 

 latest views on the classification of this order of insects. 



In general this list is based on the latest revision of 

 each group, combined in many instances, more especially 

 in the so-called Macrolepidoptera, with work which has 

 been carried on for several years in the Barnes Collection 

 in connection with the study of the existing types of North 

 American species and the comparison of specimens with 

 these same types ; the synonymy of each species is given as 

 fully as possible in so far as it relates to species described 

 from North American material, and we have incorporated 

 a number of changes in the list which have been commented 

 on in several papers by ourselves which recently appeared 

 in print. 



In the DiURNALS we have made the arrangement cor- 



