PREFACE. 



Ornitliologists have not yet shown us how the cuckoo's egg is intro- 

 duced into nests which, from their situation, the cuckoo herself could 

 not enter : neither have they ascertained what care is taken by the 

 cuckoo of her apparently neglected offspring. Erpetologists have 

 neither disproved nor established the universally accredited assertion 

 that the young adder flies to its mother's stomach as a place of refuge 

 from approaching danger: it is easy for some of us who are sceptical 

 on such points to boast of our unbelief; but how shall we explain 

 away the vast amount of independent and corroborative evidence ! 

 Again, how little is known of our bats ! and with what gratitude 

 should we not receive a concise summary of their distinguishing 

 characters and habits ! In Entomology the problems awaiting solu- 

 tion are numberless. Where in our collections shall we place Acentria 

 nivea } our lamented friend James Francis Stephens associated it with 

 the Neuroptera : Hagen and Westwood guess it is lepidopterous ; 

 while Guenee and Doubleday, whose judgment on any question 

 relating to Lepidoptera we should all prefer, absolutely and un- 

 hesitatingly reject it from that class : Mr. Brown, of Burton-on-Trent, 

 informs us (Zool. 5919) that he has "proved Acentria nivea to be a 

 lepidopterous insect," and in explanation adds, " The pupa-case puts 

 the relationship of Acentria beyond a doubt ; it is clearly the chrysalis 

 of a moth." This may be so, but a prior definition is required. 

 What is the essential difference between the chrysalis of a moth and 

 the chrysalis of a Phryganea ? Why will not some of our young 

 entomologists investigate this matter ? Let them define the locomo- 

 tive, the cibavian, the metamorphotic characters of Lepidoptera and 

 of the Phryganidce; compare and contrast them; and then, returning 

 to Acentria, let them say with which of these it has most characters 

 in common. Our present state of ignorance and uncertainty is not 

 creditable. 



Edward Newman. 



9, DevonsLire Street, Bisbopsgate Street, 

 November 21, 1861. 



