vi PREFACE. 



properly classiQed collections or accepted works of reference, I 

 have prefixed an Introduction, which comprises a brief notice of 

 the structure of insects generall}^, and a fuller account of the 

 Order Lepidoptera. After the technical diagnosis of the Sub- 

 Order Rhopalocera, which follows, I give at some length a series 

 of general observations on butterflies, under the heads of ; i. Dis- 

 tinctive Characters of Khopalocera ; 2. Classification ; 3. Geogra- 

 phical Distribution ; 4. Difi"erences Presented by the Sexes ; 5. 

 Haunts and Habits ; 6. Protective Resemblances and Mimicry ; 

 and 7. South-African Butterflies. In Plate A., exhibiting the 

 neuration of the wings and some other structural features of 

 chief value in classification, I have selected for illustration a 

 common and characteristic species of each Family and Sub- 

 Family inhabiting South Africa, and in the explanation accom- 

 panying the plate I have entered into full details. 



In the generalities just referred to, as well as in the subse- 

 quent ones following the diagnosis of the various Families, 

 Sub-Families, and Genera, care has been taken not to confine 

 them to South-African, or even to Ethiopian forms, but to 

 include, wherever serviceable, reference to allied groups or 

 species in other parts of the world. 



In dealing with the species, the progress of observation 

 has made it practicable to give, either from my own or (more 

 frequently) others' notes, many more interesting details of 

 the larvae, pupae, and habits generally than were contained iti 

 my former work. In revising the synonymy, I have endea- 

 voured (following the example long ago set by the illustrious 

 Darwin) to weed it of " references to works in which there is 

 not any original matter, or in which the plates are not of a 

 high order of excellence ; " ^ and in all cases where the authority 

 was accessible to me, I have personally verified every reference 

 given either to a description or to a figure. In instances where 

 this has not been practicable, inverted commas denote that the 



^ Monogr. on the Sub-Class Cirripedia, i. p. x. (1851). 



