INTRODUCTION. 77 



has been handled by many modern naturalists. The 

 numerous illustrations of lepidoptera published of 

 late years, have been partial, being either selections 

 from the whole class, or forming part of a local 

 fauna. In either case, the subject is regarded in 

 too insulated a light. The illustrator of foreign 

 butterflies selects a species, and by giving promi- 

 nence to all its minute characters, proposes it with 

 considerable plausibility as a distinct genus. The 

 local faunist divides his groups in reference to his 

 own limited sphere of observation. Neither con- 

 templates the possibility of being ever called upon 

 to elaborate a general system, and he leaves it to 

 those who are to reconcile all existing inconsist- 

 ences. Hence it follows, that so many of the 

 genera proposed in local and partial works can find 

 no place in a general one ; for however specious they 

 may appear when standing alone, it is often found 

 that they will not unite into a consistent whole, 

 and they may therefore be said still further to em- 

 broil the very subject they were designed to eluci- 

 date. 



The Linnean distribution was vague and unsatis- 

 factory, even at the time when it was first produced, 

 and soon became utterly inapplicable when the 

 amount of known species was increased. But it did 

 not fail to exercise, like every other system ema- 

 nating from that gifted mind, a powerful influence 

 on the progress of the science, and is interesting on 

 account of its ingenuity and poetical elegance. 



