PREFACE. 



A WORK on the British Tortrices, which should contain descrip- 

 tions of the various species known to occur in these islands, and 

 at the same time record our latest knowledge upon the subject, 

 has long been desiderated, nothing of the kind having appeared 

 upon this group of insects since the publication of the late 

 J. F. Stephen's ' Illustrations of British Entomology.' 



To supply this want was the object of a notice by Mr. H. T. 

 Stainton, in the 'Entomologist's Annual' for 1855, Second Edi- 

 tion, and I undertook the task. How it has been accomplished 

 it is not my province to pronounce; but I may, perhaps, be per- 

 mitted to make a few remarks on the mode of its execution, pre- 

 mising, however, that I have no literary aspirations. I have 

 merely endeavoured to make the subject-matter intelligible, and 

 the following is the course I have adopted. 



All the descriptions have been made from the insects them- 

 selves, without reference to what has been done by other authors; 

 and the manner of writing them is uniform throughout. Whilst 

 describing the anterior wings, I have, whenever practicable, taken 

 the palest tint as the ground-colour, and then have noticed the 

 separate markings, commencing at the base, and proceeding to 

 the apex. I deem it right to mention this, that the tyro may 

 not be at a loss, when, endeavouring to make out his species from 

 the text, which has, with that object, been verbosely written, at 

 the expense of what may be termed elegance of diction, con- 

 ceiving the latter to be quite incompatible in a book on Natural 

 History intended for study. 



The anatomical part of the subject has been carefully and 

 microscopically investigated, and the few characters which have 

 presented themselves have been made available for the purposes 



