lv PREFACE. 
course (where possible) has always been had to the Insect, 
which has been drawn by the graver immediately on the 
copper, without the intervention of any copy. 
The Systematic Catalogue of British Insects by Mr. Ste- 
phens has been the guide throughout the Work; but where 
the generic names have been subsequently altered in the 
Illustrations of British Entomology, the alterations are con- 
stantly noticed in the third column. 
It was originally intended strictly to confine the Work to 
one figure only of each species; nor was this plan departed 
from till after the first Plate was finished, and the second and 
third in progress. It was then observed that the great dissi- 
milarity between the Male and Female of several species 
amongst the Butterflies, made it quite necessary to figure 
some of the latter. ‘This has caused an unavoidable confusion 
in the numbering of the second and third Plates; but it is pre- 
sumed that the benefit arising from the deviation will more 
than counterbalance the apparent defect. It must be ob- 
served, that where the Male and Female are both figured, the 
number is always repeated. Thus, in Pl. I. 40 a+the male; 
40 the female: again, Pl. II. 55 a+the male; 58 Pl. IIL. the 
female. ; 
Each page of the work (as in the Index Testaceologicus) is 
divided into columns. The first column contains the Linnean 
names, to be found in the twelfth edition of the Systema Na- 
ture :—the names printed in Italics mark the species disco- 
vered since the time of Linnzus. The second column contains 
the English names. The third, the synonyms of British 
Authors, and the new genera as adopted by Mr. Stephens and 
others. The high numbers preceding each generic name in 
small capitals refer to the Systematic Catalogue of British 
Insects, (where the Lepidoptera begin with No. 5794,)* and 
* Where no such number precedes the name, the Insect has been disco- 
vered since the publication of the Catalogue in 1829. 
