AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



THE present volume, the third of the proposed series of five on 

 Lepidoptera, includes the Hesperiidcz, or Skippers, a Family 

 usually regarded as intermediate between the Butterflies and 

 the Moths, and the first twenty-six Families of Moths (com- 

 mencing with one or two of rather doubtful position, which 

 are sometimes placed in the Hesperiidce) from the Mega- 

 thymidcB to the Notodontidtz inclusive. 



As before, I have drawn freely upon the figures from New- 

 man's well-known work, and although the much greater num- 

 ber of the species of Moths has not allowed me to deal with 

 them so fully as with the Butterflies, yet I have endeavoured 

 to give a fairly representative selection of our native species, 

 as well as illustrations of the principal Families, and of some 

 of the most interesting genera of the exotic forms. The fourth 

 volume, which is in the press, will complete the series of 

 Families known as Sphinges and Bombyces. 



In the preparation of these volumes, I have had the assist- 

 ance of my son, Dr. W. Egmont Kirby, and have thus been 

 enabled to complete them in a shorter time than would other- 

 wise have been possible. 



In the volumes of Moths I have followed the classification 

 adopted in my "Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera," in 



