iv PREFACE. 



Catalogue of British Plants " (8th ed.). The numbers placed 

 after the names of the plants, etc., are taken from the same 

 Catalogue, and are (as explained in it) intended for a census, 

 i.e , " a scale of rarity or frequency in relation to Britain as a 

 whole. They express the number of counties in which each 

 species has been reputed to occur, as set forth in the 2nd 

 edition of Topographical Botany. By sub-dividing the larger 

 counties into two or more vice-counties " their number amounts 

 to 112. So that, for example, the number "96" placed after 

 " Malva sylvestris. — Mallow," means that that plant grows in 

 96 out of the 112 districts into which Britain is divided. 



References have been made with regard to a few species, 

 especially some of the rarer larvce, and those of "occasional 

 visitors " to Britain (marked with an asterisk), to W. F. Kirby's 

 " European Butterflies and Moths," Kaltenbach's " Pflanzen- 

 feinde," and to Owen S. Wilson's " Larvae of the British Lepi- 

 doptera and their Food-plants." 



A few blank pages are added to the book for private notes 

 and memoranda. 



The following abbreviations are used : — 



Buckl. — Larvae of British Butterflies and Moths. — Buckler 

 and Stainton. 



Newm. — Natural History of British Butterflies and Moths. 

 — E. Newman. 



Sta.— Manual of British Butterflies and Moths.— H. T. 

 Stainton. 



Ent. — " The Entomologist." 



Ent. Mag. — "The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine." 



In conclusion, I tender, first of all, my warmest and most 

 grateful thanks to my friend, Mr. F. J. Hanbury, for his un- 

 varying kindness and valuable assistance in many ways, especi- 

 ally as regards the botanical matter ; and secondly, my sincere 

 thanks for information so readily afforded me, to Mrs. Hutchin- 

 son and Messrs. E. A. Atmore, W. H. Harwood, W. R. Jeffrey, 

 W. Machin, F. Norgate, Richard South, and Sydney Webb. 



J. SEYMOUR ST. JOHN. 

 42, Castlewood Road, 



Stamford Hill, N. 

 March, 1 890. 



