PREFACE. 



The book entitled " Rhopalocera AfiHcce Australis ; a Cata- 

 logue of South - African Butterflies," which I published in 

 1862-66, has for long been out of print as well as out of date. 

 Incomplete as it necessarily was, I am glad to know that it has 

 proved very serviceable, especially in South Africa ; and this has 

 encouraged me to prepare the present work on the same subject, 

 embodying as far as I am able the results of the wider know- 

 ledge gained during the twenty-one years which have passed 

 since the old book made its appearance. As the new work is 

 much more than a second edition of the former one, I have 

 given it a different title, concisely descriptive of its character 

 and scope. 



Unable to finish the work as soon as I had anticipated, ] 

 think it well to publish the completed portion without more 

 delay. The two parts now together issued contain the Fami- 

 lies NymphalidcB, Erycinidce, and Lyccenidce, comprising 238 

 species, — a little over three-fifths of the whole number known. 

 The concluding part, dealing with the Families PapilionidcB 

 and Hesperidce, will describe about 142 species, bringing the 

 total of known South-African forms up to about 380, — a strik- 

 ing increase over the record in 1866, when (after removing the 

 erroneous admissions from the list) only 197 natives of South 

 Africa were registered. 



Keeping in view the requirements of students and collectors 

 in the Cape Colony, Natal, and elsewhere in South Africa, who 

 are for the most part debarred from opportunities of consulting 



