Uo. 5.] -^ Beeaiie of Entomology » 



were very fully furnished with the works of all the more important 

 writers upon the subject, and by their help a large number of species 

 were identified, and the previous arrangement into families verified or 

 corrected. 



Of all the groups of Indian insects the moths, which at that time 

 comprised an assemblage of some five thousand described Indian species, 

 proved to be the most difficult to arrange. This was owing to the 

 absence of any general catalogue of more recent date than the British 

 Museum catalogue in thirty-five volumes by Walker, which had been 

 rendered almost completely obsolete by the voluminous descriptive works 

 of subsequent writers. 



To meet the difficulty it was decided to undertake the compilation 

 of a fresh catalogue of the Moths of India. The work was commenced 

 systematically and shortly afterwards a most enthusiastic and able coad- 

 jutor was found in Colonel Charles Swinhoe, of the Bombay Commis- 

 sariat Department, who had devoted the leisure hours of a long service 

 in many parts of India to the study of Lepidoptera, and had amassed 

 one of the largest amateur collections of Indian moths in existence. The 

 catalogue proved to be a most laborious undertaking, and took more 

 than three years to complete. In the course of the work the Museum 

 collection was arranged, and as far as possible named, the majority of 

 the species being identified by Colonel Swinhoe by comparison with his 

 own collection which he had previously determined in Europe. The 

 series was afterwards supplemented by a large set of moths from Sikkim 

 purchased from the estate of that excellent collector, the late Mr. Otto 

 Mollei-, and determined in England by Mr. Elwes. 



In the meantime steps were taken to enlist the co-operation of 

 Entomologists in all parts of the world in working out other groups of 

 insects contained in the Indian Museum. Cordial support in the scheme 

 was received from the late Mr, E. T. Atkinson, who was at that time 

 chairman of the trustees, and who took an active part in sending out 

 circular letters, and in securing sanction for the despatch of Museum 

 specimens to Europe. Mr, Atkinson also himself undertook to determine 

 the Rhynchota. He further ticketed with his own hands many of the 

 Coleoptera that were returned after examination by other Entomologists. 



As the result of the action that was taken, a number of Entomologists 

 in different parts of the world consented to examine the Museum collec- 

 tions of the different groups to which they had respectively devoted their 

 attention, the understanding being that they might take what duplicates 

 they wanted for their own collections, but should return, in each case, 

 a complete set, including all unique specimens, to the Museum, A large 



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