INSECTS 



has attracted the most general attention and has been the most widely 

 observed, 50 of the 68 British species having been recorded. The 

 census for the nine groups into which the order has been divided in 

 Mr. Meyrick's Handbook of British Lepidoptera stands at present as under : 



Recorded 



British for 



Species Herts 



Caradrinina 378 221 



Notodontina 326 



Lasiocampina 18 



Papilionina 68 



Pyralidina 187 



Psychina 16 



Tortricina 330 



Tineina 720 



Micropterygina 18 



229 



15 



50 



87 

 6 



171 

 344 



15 



Totals .... 2,061 . . . 1,138 



The order of proportionate representation, based upon these figures, 

 is therefore as follows : Lasiocampina and Micropterygina (both of which 

 are represented by 15 out of 18 British species), Papilionina, Notodontina^ 

 Caradrinina, Tortricina, Tineina, Pyralidina, and Psychina. It must, how- 

 ever, be remembered that the smaller moths have received comparatively 

 little attention, and that so far as they are concerned a large part of the 

 county remains unexplored. Future investigations may, therefore, res-ult 

 in a re-arrangement of the above order. 



In March, 1878, the Rev. C. M. Perkins, M.A., then head master 

 of the St. Albans Grammar School, read a paper before the members of 

 the Watford Natural History Society on ' British Butterflies,' 1 treating 

 especially of the species which had been taken in the county. With the 

 exception of Stephens' records this appears to have been the first important 

 contribution to our knowledge of the insect fauna of Hertfordshire. 

 The earliest recent attempt to compile anything like an exhaustive local 

 list was, however, made in the winter of 18834 by Mr. Arthur Griffith, 

 M.A., and in it he recorded the results of the observations and captures 

 made by himself and his brother, Mr. F. LI. Griffith. This list was 

 published in the 'Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society? 

 Mr. Arthur Griffith and his brother are sons of the late Rev. John 

 Griffith, LL.D., at that time vicar of Sandridge, and their collecting 

 was done principally, though not wholly, in their father's parish, and 

 extended over a district about six miles long and two miles wide. They 

 succeeded in compiling a list of 514 species, 29 of which were butter- 

 flies. By the end of 1890" this total had been increased to 832 species, 

 including 266 Tineina, which group had not been dealt with in the 

 earlier paper. This very considerable total for so comparatively re- 

 stricted an area must be regarded as very creditable. Besides a large 

 number of the Micro-Lepidoptera, the following insects have been re- 



1 Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Six., vol. ii. p. 63. * Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soe., vol. iii. p. 58. 



3 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 47. 



Ill 



