9 PREFACE. 
butterflies ; and with the able assistance of Mr. Westwood, who has kindly undertaken to describe the 
characters, &e. &e., I hope to make the present a more complete work than any that has hitherto appeared 
in this country upon the subject, whilst its price will make it attainable by the great mass of the public. 
In this place it is usual to put forth some argument in favour of the study of such subjects as the 
book treats of, but it seems searcely necessary to urge anything in favour of the delightful study of 
entomology. The great beauty of many tribes of insects, their wonderful and minute organisation, 
their extraordinary metamorphoses, and the links they add to the chain of created beings, appear to 
form an all-sufficient attraction. 
All must acknowledge the desolateness and vacancy of the mind, which, placed among the treasures 
of a splendid library, is unable to taste the rich fruits of reason that are piled around—unable to read. 
Yet, without being acknowledged or felt by the great mass of society, just such is the situation of one 
who has never awakened to the wonders of natural history, when he finds himself in the woods or fields. 
He cannot read in the beautiful book of nature, when in the summer it opensits brightest leaves, 
illuminated with its most gorgeous pictures, before him. 
The study of natural history is the learning of the characters with which the wonderful story of 
nature is written; and I cannot conceive a more pleasing and natural introduction to its general study 
than entomology, of which I think the division Lepidoptera, the first portion of which will occupy 
the present volume, the most easy and attractive section. The individual beauty of the inseets in 
every stage, the ease with which they are preserved, and the comparative facility with which a complete 
collection of British species may be formed, particularly of butterflies, of which we number scarcely 
more than eighty distinct species, render it a task of easy attainment; and carrying forth the student 
among trees and fields and flowers at the most delightful period of the year, its pursuit becomes very cap- 
tivating ; a most attractive first step towards the acquirement of a general knowledge of natural history. 
Many other temptations might be adduced to encourage the study of the natural history of 
butterflies, but i will only allude to one. Botanists are sent at vast expense to every region of the 
earth to collect the most beautiful flowers of every clime for the decoration of our gardens; and the 
efforts of scientific gardeners are exerted to naturalise them to our climate ; but though the plants of 
temperate regions have been found in many instances to bear the open air in our country, the gorgeous 
vegetation of the tropics can only be seen in England in the stove or the conservatory. Yet, though we 
cannot transplant the flowers of the tropies to our bleaker soil, it appears by no means impossible that 
we may naturalise some of their splendid insects. Their system of hybernation in the pupa case, in 
which state insects have been found to resist almost any degree of cold without injury, would shield 
them from the effects of our long winters. Their development would not take place till the warmth of 
summer became sufficient ; when we might see tropical butterflies flit from flower to flower, a splendid 
novelty to our gardens, exhibiting colours more gorgeous than anything in the vegetable empire ; and 
our lawns would be spangled with colours still more beautiful than those of the brightest flowers, and 
endowed, moreover, with the extra charm of motion. If we cannot add the humming-birds of the 
Brazils to our garden luxuries, it seems probable that we might import many of the brilliant butterflies, 
im some instances even still more wonderful specimens of tropical colouring. 

