PREEAC E 
Tur term “ Microlepidoptera”’ is commonly and_ loosely 
applied to the (usually small) moths belonging to the groups Ptero- 
phorina, Tortricina, Tineina and Micropterygina. Strictly speaking, 
many comparatively large moths of the families Cossidee, Aigeriade, 
Hepialide, ete., should be included amongst the “ Micros,” numerous 
species of which, by the way, are considerably larger than many 
Macros, but, as Mr. Meyrick has recently remarked, some families 
of the true Microlepidoptera are commonly appropriated by the 
collectors of the larger Lepidoptera without any justification. 
For the purpose of these papers the term Microlepidoptera is taken 
to include those families which are not included in the volumes 
on Moths in the Fauna of British India series. 
It is only within the last fifteen years that any serious attempt 
has been made to acquire a knowledge of the Microlepidoptera of 
the Indian Region. In 1889, at the time of the publication of 
Cotes’ and Swinhoe’s Catalogue of the Moths of India, only 225 
species of Microlepidoptera were enumerated and this number 
included several synonyms and species which are not true “* Micros.” 
At the present time 2,422 species, contained in about 458 genera, 
have been recorded and we are still only beginning to learn what 
forms actually exist within the Indian Empire, in which enormous 
areas are still absolutely unknown so far as concerns their micro- 
lepidopterous fauna. 
Our knowledge of the early stages of these little moths is still 
more incomplete, although numerous species are of considerable 
importance as pests of crops or of household or stored products. 
The Pink Bollworm (Platyedra gossypiella) and the Potato Moth 
(Phthorimea_operculella), for example, do damage which totals 
