PREFACE. V 



end of the Pyralides and the Chilidae, which family is placed at 

 the head of the Crambi in the present list. 



With but few exceptions I have followed the nomenclature of 

 Dr. Staudinger for the Macro-Lepidoptera, and that of Dr. Wocke 

 for the Micro-Lepidoptera. In the latter division, as regards the 

 Tortrices and Tineae, I have been greatly assisted in the deter- 

 mination of questions of priority of nomenclature by the perusal 

 of papers bearing on the subject, both in the ' Entomologist' and 

 the 'Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.' In the volumes of the 

 last-named journal a series of able papers on " British Tortrices," 

 by Mr. C. G. Barrett, have been of especial service in the matter 

 of synonymy of the group. Mr. H. T. Stainton's papers on the 

 Tineae have also afforded valuable assistance. 



In some cases I have changed a letter, added it to, or deleted 

 it from, a name where the spelling of such name suggested an 

 original typographical error. I maintain that there is no sacrifice 

 of scientific accuracy in the correction of these misprinted names, 

 but that it is desirable that errors of this nature should not be 

 perpetuated. Dr. Staudinger evidently thinks otherwise, as he 

 indicates errors where they exist by placing the correction in 

 brackets. As I read his preface, he considers no one but the 

 author has a right to correct the spelling of a name, and that even 

 the author loses this right after the name has been made public. 



Under the common term variety (v.) I have included all the 

 named forms of species. A variety is so-called because it deviates 

 or varies from a given type, and an aberration is designated as 

 such for precisely the same reason. Seeing, then, that a variety 

 must necessarily exhibit some aberrance from a recognised tj'pe, 

 and that aberration from such type constitutes a variety, it 

 follows that the two terms are synonymous, and are not even 

 different in degree ; and although they are understood by some 

 entomologists to indicate particular phases of variation, by many 

 others they are not so understood, but are used indiscriminately 

 in conversation as in writing when referring to any departure 

 from the normal characteristics of an insect. 



Dr. Staudinger divides varieties into three classes : 

 1. Aberrations, or those varieties which appear singly in the 

 same place and at the same time as the type. These may be 



