72 INTRODUCTION. 



by the author. It was designed to be the precursor 

 of several other works on the natural history of 

 that country and of Otaheite, where the author 

 spent nearly eight years, and was published in the 

 hope that the profits of the sale would enable him 

 to return to his native country; a prospect, how- 

 ever, which was unhappily not realised, for he died 

 at Sidney in 1821. The work is now extremely 

 rare, and it is probably on that account that the 

 interesting groups which it describes have not 

 much attracted the attention of recent entomological 

 writers. 



The extensive works of Hubner and Herbst de- 

 serve a conspicuous place among the illustrated 

 works devoted to the Lepidoptera, and there are 

 many others of great merit which we cannot afford 

 space more particularly to advert to. 



Of those authors who have arranged the hetero- 

 cerous Lepidoptera systematically, it is scarcely 

 necessary to allude to the well known classifications 

 of Linnasus and Fabricius. The former at one time 

 included the whole in his genus Phalsena, but he 

 afterwards added the genus Sphinx, and divided 

 Phakena into numerous sections. Latreille was the 

 first who attempted a natural arrangement, which 

 appeared in 1796, in the " Precis," &c. of which 

 we have already spoken. Following out the views 

 of Mr. Macleay with regard to a circular relation of 

 affinities, several British authors have endeavoured 

 to apply his principles to the insects in question. 

 Mr. Stephens, the author of one of the best de- 



