PREFACE. 



THIS catalogue, which comprises all the known moths 

 of the Indian region, including Burma and Ceylon, 

 aims at being a handbook of reference for Indian naturalists 

 who interest themselves in the moths of the country. 



No pains have been spared in its compilation, which has 

 taken more than three years to accomplish, but the work has 

 presented exceptional difficulties owing to the fact that no 

 satisfactory classification was in existence. Old authors were 

 content to describe all Indian moths under the generic 

 names of Sphinx, Bombyx, Phalsena, Noctua, &c., while 

 hardly any two modern writers adopt one classification. 

 The type specimens, from which the species were origin- 

 ally described, are mostly the property of museums and 

 private individuals in Europe ; working in India therefore, 

 where it is impossible to examine these types, it has been 

 necessary to adopt many species, which will probably prove, 

 on further examination, to have been founded upon charac- 

 ters of too trifling a nature. It is hoped, however, that the 

 errors and imperfections, which a work of this kind must 

 necessarily contain, will not seriously detract from its useful- 

 ness. 



The work is published by the Trustees of the Indian 

 Museum, and the thanks of the compilers are also due to the 

 following : Mr. E. Moore, who has examined many types in 

 the British Museum, determined specimens, and given his 

 invaluable help in the revision of the whole catalogue ; Mons. 

 Hagonot, who has taken much trouble in revising and classi- 

 fying the Crambites ; and Lord Walsingham, who has given 

 assistance and advice with reference to the Tortrices. 



INDIAN MUSEUM, 



May 1889. 



