2l7 



THE MOTHS OF INDIA. 



SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER TO THE VOLUMES IN 

 " THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA." 



PART I, 



By Sir G. F. Hampson, Bart., f.z.s., f.r.s. 



{With Plate A.) 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 



30th September, 1897.) 



The following paper is the first of what I hope may be a series of 

 annual papers aiming at keeping pace with the growth of the subject 

 with which I have attempted to deal in my volumes in the " Fauna of 

 India " series. These volumes can hardly be considered more than the 

 necessary preliminary setting in order of a vast subject so as to reduce 

 it to a workable state. Of how much still remains to be done, not 

 only in collecting and classifying new species, but also in getting 

 together sufficient material to settle disputed points with regard to 

 those already described, no one can be conscious till he has worked at 

 the subject, not to mention the immensely interesting field of the life- 

 history of nearly all the species. Without referring to the smaller 

 collections or the collections gradually acquired by the East India 

 Company's Museum and the British Museum, the material for the 

 subject-matter of the " Moths of India " almost entirely rests on the 

 following collections : — 



North- West Himalayas. — The large collections made in the outer 

 ranges by the Rev. J. Hocking and Major Harford, whilst the moths of 

 Kashmir are only known from one season's collecting by Mr. J. H. 

 Leech and his assistants, who brought home a number of forms, in- 

 cluding several Sphingidce, which have never been taken since, although 

 the valley is yearly frequented by such a large number of Europeans 

 who are interested in sport and natural history, who have however let 

 the moths severely alone ; the fauna is especially interesting from 

 the large number of Palsearctic and Central Asian species represented. 

 The Sikhim fauna is comparatively well known from the numerous 

 collections made by W. Atkinson, , Otto Moller, Elwes, and more 

 recently by Dr.. Pilcher, and the steady working at .the subject by 

 Mr. G. C. Dudgeon. 



