PREFACE. 



It was my intention, as stated in the Introductory Remarks, to 

 comprise in the first part of the Catalogue of the Lepidopterous 

 Insects contained in the Museum of the East-India Company, the 

 three first Tribes of this Order of Insects ; but in arranging this 

 work for publication, it became evident that our materials and 

 the labour of preparing them for publication exceeded the original 

 estimate of their extent : the full illustration of the species, the 

 investigation and enumeration of the multifarious synonyms by 

 which they are indicated by authors, together with the descriptions 

 of a considerable number of new species, rendered a modification 

 of our first plan advisable. I have therefore determined to limit 

 the first part to the Papiliones and Sphinges, reserving the 

 BoMBTOEB to the second part. 



In submitting this Catalogue to the Entomological public, it is 

 my first duty to acknowledge the very valuable and accommodating 

 assistance which has been afibrded to myself and my assistant by 

 the officers of the Zoological Department of the British Museum, 

 in our frequent researches, for the purpose of accurately comparing 

 the subjects in the Company's with those contained in the British 

 Museum. By this means, our species have been verified with a 

 degree of accuracy otherwise unattainable ; the synonyms carefully 

 examined, and the character and distinctness of the new species 

 fixed with all possible accuracy. 



My best thanks are also due to A. Grote, Esq., of the Company's 



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