IV PREFACE. 



uniform nomenclature among British entomologists, the present 

 Synonymic List* has been compiled, and Dr. Staudinger's 

 'Catalog' has been taken as a basis of nomenclature. At the 

 same time the Doubleday arrangement of families and genera 

 has been altered as little as possible. 



In the Macro-Lepidoptera the system of arrangement 

 adopted by Dr. Staudinger is, with few exceptions, that of Herr 

 Julius Lederer, an Austrian lepidopterologist of considerable 

 repute, who died in 1870. Lederer's classification of the 

 Ehopalocera, Sphinges, and Bombyces differs but very little 

 from the arrangement of those groups by Ochsenheimer, 

 Boisduval, Herrich-Schaffer, and one or two other authors. 

 The Noctuse and Geometrae, on the other hand, were arranged 

 by Lederer in accordance with his own views of classification. 



In the present list I have not followed this arrangement in 

 its entirety, but have made such changes in the Doubleday 

 classification as, in my opinion, placed our species of Macro- 

 Lepidoptera in a more natural sequence. 



Dr. Wocke, in the Micro-Lepidoptera, has also followed 

 Lederer in the arrangement of the Pyralides ; but he has arranged 

 the Crambi according to the system of Zeller and Heinemann. 

 The classification of the Tortrices is that of Heinemann ; whilst 

 the TinesB are arranged partly according to Heinemann, and 

 partly after the system of Herrich-Schaffer. 



I have not, however, adopted Dr. Wocke's arrangement of 

 the Micro-lepidoptera, except in a somewhat modified form, as 

 regards the Pyralides and Crarnbi. These two groups I found it 

 necessary to partly rearrange, so as to enable me to bring 

 forward the Pterophori. I am unable to demonstrate by 

 unanswerable argument that the Pterophori are not rightly 

 placed in the position generally assigned them ; still I have 

 ventured to instal the group in a position which I consider a 

 more satisfactory one, that is between the Acentropodidae at the 



* Mr. John T. Carrington originally contemplated the compilation of such 

 a list, aided by various well-known entomologists. Unfortunately, however, 

 before the first eight pages were completed, other demands on his time obliged 

 Mr. _ Carrington to relinquish the undertaking. As there was a probability of 

 an indefinite delay in the completion of the work, I undertook to compile the 

 present list. I have included in the earlier pages all the valuable corrections of, 

 and additions to, the synonymy furnished to Mr. Carrington by the several 

 gentlemen referred to. 



