PREFACE, 
Wuen I first became a collector of Butterflies, the pursuit was much less common than now ; 
and few works upon the subject, in a popular form, existed ; so that as my cabinet increased I 
began to find the want of some instructive manual, in which the distinctive characters of the 
different kinds of British Butterflies were not only described but also exhibited, by means of 
coloured representations of all the species, each of its natural size, and accompanied by their 
respective larve. Finding that no such work then existed, I determined to produce one myself ; 
and, obtaining the aid of one of our most eminent entomologists, J. O. Westwood, Esq., I pub- 
lished, with his valuable assistance, a volume which I entitled “ British Butterflies and their 
Transformations.” 
The work was well received, and its sale has exhausted several editions. It undoubtedly 
did its part, however small, in extending the general taste for entomological studies ; but as the 
circle of students became wider, it appeared to me that a work of less bulk, and of more popular 
character, might be serviceable. I therefore deemed this a fitting time for remodelling my 
subject, more especially as many changes have taken place in the mode of classifying our native 
Lepidoptera. With this view I have undertaken the present work, which, while it will be far 
less voluminous than the former one, in as far as the text is concerned, will yet contain a greater 
number of coloured representations of our British Butterflies, of which no single species, or even 
striking variety, will be omitted, and all the new species and varieties of recent discovery will 
be introduced. 
Without sacrificing anything, as I hope, of scientific accuracy, I have sought to render the 
present work, and its subject, more attractive by exhibiting the insects in picturesque groups, 
flitting among the foliage and flowers of their native haunts, or hovering over plants upon which 
the larvee may be seen feeding. I imagined that by thus presenting our indigenous Buttertlies 
to the notice of the student under a natural aspect, instead of displaying them in the form of 
dried specimens, as stiffly pinned out in a cabinet, my volume might possess the advantage (as an 
introductory work) of attracting many towards the study of this branch of Natural History who 
might be repelled by a more dry and technical arrangement. I mean such as generally charac- 
terises entomological works which have any pretension to a regular and comprehensive character ; 
or such as embraces (as in the present instance) the complete treatment of any special section of 
the science. 
