INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 



were collected by me, and deposited in the Museum between the 

 years 1813 and 1819. Since that period, collections of various 

 extent have been contributed from the continental possessions of 

 the Company in the East, and from China. 



In the year 1820, the Entomological Cabinet was provisionally 

 arranged according to the plan of Dr. Leach, as given in Samoelle's 

 Entomologists' useful Compendium. My attention having been 

 devoted to other branches of Zoology, chiefly Mammalia and Birds, 

 the Insects remained in the state of their first arrangement until 

 the year 182.5, when William Sharp Macleay, Esq., commenced, in 

 the " Annulosa Javanica,'' a description of the Coleopterous Insects 

 in the Museum. 



Some time after this, an attempt was made to give a description 

 of the Lepidopterous Insects in a work entitled, " Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Insects in the Company's Museum." 

 This work having been undertaken on a plan which could not 

 insure public support, was discontinued after the publication of the 

 two first numbers, in 1828 and 1829. 



In undertaking that work, the systematic arrangement to be 

 adopted was the first consideration ; and accordingly, the works 

 of Linnasus, Latreille, Fabricius, Dumeril, and other systematic 

 Entomologists, were carefully studied, in order to direct me to the 

 most natural method of arranging my Collection. 



While thus engaged, my attention was almost accidentally called 

 to a comparatively obscure work, rarely consulted by English 

 Entomologists (except as an Index of Species described), which 

 was published in Germany towards the end of the last century, 

 entitled, " Systematisches Verzeichniss der Schmetterlinge der Wie- 

 nergegend, heraus-gegeben von einigen Lehrern am K. K. — There- 

 siANUM ;" which last word I found designated Messrs. Denis and 

 Schieffermiiller, two distinguished ofl^icers of the court of Vienna, 

 known in Germany from their charge in the Imperial Academy, by 

 the name of " Theresianer." In this work I discovered, to my 

 great delight, an attempt to unite Lepidopterous Insects into groups, 

 founded on the various stages of their existence, from the Caterpillar 

 to the perfect Insect, or on their transformations. The maxim of 

 the authors is, " Ein Aug auf den Schmetterling, das andere Aug 

 die Eaupe'' (one eye to the Butterfly, another to the Caterpillar). 

 This maxim gave a new direction to my inquiries ; it superseded 



