Xxiv INTRODrCTION. 



Indian Museum, Calcutta : and I have received great assistance 

 from Dr. H. S. Ferguson, in charge of the Museum at Trivandrum. 

 Of the Ceylonese fauna much material has heen acquired. My friend 

 Mr. G. Lewis, who visited that island some years ago, and brought 

 his experience as a field coleopterist to the collection of Ehynchota, 

 made a most representative collection which he handed over to me 

 intact ; and while engaged in preparing this book I have received 

 from Mr. E. E. Green very much assistance. The British Museum 

 contains a fine collection of North Indian species — many still 

 unique — presented at various times by travellers and military men 

 stationed in the hill districts. Many of these were described by 

 Walker, and I have examined and verified all his types. The 

 collection accjuired by the Eev. E. W. Hope, described by Westwood, 

 and now in the Oxford Museum, has also passed through my 

 hands by the good offices of Prof. Poulton. From Teuasserim, 

 the south-eastern extremity of our fauuistic area, I have received 

 the material acquired by Doherty, and also that of Limborg, a 

 collector sent thither some years ago by the late Prof. Wood- 

 Mason. Fea also collected in Tenasserim, and I have examined 

 his material ; whilst I previously worked out the specimens 

 collected by Dr. Anderson in the Mergui Archipelago. 



From the Andamans and Nicobars my material has been very 

 small. From both these islands I received a small collection made 

 by Prof. Meldola during the Transit of Venus Expedition, and 

 likewise acquii-ed the few specimens collected by De Eoepstorif in 

 the Andamans. I visited Car Nicobar in the sixties, but at the 

 height of a dry season, aiid was thus prevented from forming an 

 even representative collection. 



I must also gratefully acknowledge the assistance I have 

 received by the loan of specimens from Dr. Chr. Aurivillius and 

 Dr. Tngve Sjtistedt, of the Stockholm Museum ; Dr. Horvath, of 

 the National Museum, Budapest; Dr. Handlirsch, of the Hof 

 Museum, Vienna ; Dr. Gestro of Genoa, Prof. Bouvier of Paris, 

 and Dr. E. Bergroth of Tammerfors. Mention must also be made 

 of the untiring pains taken by the artist Mr. H. Knight to produce 

 accuracy in the structural details of his illustrations. 



Some alterations and corrections made in the construction of 

 generic and specific names must be placed to the credit of the 

 Editor, Mr. Blanford. This will explain why in the nomenclature 

 some names are not quite the same as those previously used by me 

 in other places, where I have frequently followed general usage 

 rather than the strict canons of the Greek and Latin grammars. 



Eefereuce must also be made to the method here used in 

 diagnosis. My instructions from the first were, wherever jiossible, 

 to use brevity with clearness — the book, as I understood it, being 

 primarily for the use of those who are in British India and who 

 wish to understand their fauna and recognize its representatives. 

 Consequently I have not sought to give so full and minute a 

 description as might afPord differential characters for comparison 



