COLLECTION OP FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. Ill 



you require them for microscopical or structural examination ; 

 nor (if money is any object) can it be recommended to pay 

 fancy prices for the first specimens of some grand new 

 species which arrive, unless from some out-of-the-way place 

 not likely to be soon revisited by a collector. 



Foreign Lepidoplera may also be purchased from the 

 dealers whose advertisements are published in the entomolo- 

 gical magazines, or from the Natural-History agents, bird- 

 stuffers, and dealers in curiosities, whose shops and offices 

 are to be met with in various parts of London, but more 

 especially in Great Russell Street, and the streets between 

 this and Oxford Street. Mr. Marsden, of Gloucester, is at 

 present the cliief importer of European Lepidoplera. 



Wealthy entomologists frequently send collectors abroad 

 at their own expense, and thus receive large numbers of 

 specimens. Opportunities sometimes occur for exchanging 

 specimens with entomologists residing abroad, when speci- 

 mens may readily be obtained from the Continent, North 

 America, &c. 



If all the insects in a collection are re-set in a uniform 

 manner, it will very much improve its appearance. Under 

 sides are exceedingly important in butterflies, but are often 

 neglected. 



The most useful introductory book for a beginner is 

 Chenu's 'Encyclopedic d'Histoire Naturelles : Papillons.' 

 This is mainly a cheap French abstract of Doubleday and 

 Hewitson's great work, the ' Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera,' 

 now out of print and very scarce, the last kvr copies 

 remaining at the publisher's having been destroyed in the 

 great fire at Paternoster Row some years ago. Chenu's work 

 contains butterflies and Splnnges, and is crowded with 

 woodcuts. There is a second volume on moths, but it is too 

 inaccurate to be recommended. 



More advanced collectors will require other books, but, in 

 the absence of monographs, it is difficult to know what to 

 recommend. There is a Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera, 

 by the present writer, which is the latest compendium of this 

 group; but it contains no descriptions. Walker's List of the 

 Lepidoplera Heterocera of the British Museum, thirty-five 

 parts (varying in price from three shillings to seven shillings 

 per part, the parts being sold separately), will be found the 



