64 INTRODUCTION. 



to Europe ; * but it is of the authors who have 

 treated of extra-European Lepidoptera that we wish 

 at present more particularly to speak. 



The splendid work of Madame Merian on the 

 Insects of Surinam, published in 1705, may be re- 

 garded as the first illustrated work of any con- 

 sequence devoted to exotic entomology. About 

 one-half of it is occupied with the crepuscular and 

 nocturnal Lepidoptera ; and several of the most 

 conspicuous kinds of the tropical parts of the New 

 World are represented, such as Attacus erythrince, 

 Erebus stria, Attacus aurota, Hesperus, &c, besides 

 numerous species of Sphingidce. Viewed in relation 

 to its merits as a work of art, this publication is 

 deserving of high praise ; the objects are gracefully 

 grouped and distributed, and great freedom and 

 power of drawing is often displayed. But it derives 

 its chief value in the eyes of naturalists from the 

 figures of the caterpillars, which are almost always 

 given, and generally executed with much greater 

 care than those of the perfect insects. A few glar- 

 ing errors into which the fair authoress has fallen, 

 have, it is true, produced some degree of doubt 

 as to the fidelity of her representations ; but in 

 general there is no reason why they should not 

 be relied on. Many caterpillars are to be found 

 here, for which we should look in vain in any work 

 of more recent date. It is to be lamented that the 



* A very full list of the writers on European Lepidoptera 

 will be found in Westwood's Modern Classification of Insects, 

 vol. ii. p. 308. 



