IV INTHODFCTIOISr. 



lepidopterous fauna of the district, that I have not been able 

 to add any additional residential species in those groups he 

 enumerated, notwithstanding the large amount of collecting 

 that has been accomplished during the last fifty years, during 

 which period facilities for getting from place to place have been 

 made very much easier by the spread of railways, the improve- 

 ment of roads, and by generally increased means of locomotion. 

 It is true that I have introduced Sphinx ligustri and Ghcerocampa 

 Nerii to the list, but these are merely records of accidental occur- 

 rences. Procris geryon is also an additional species, but it had 

 not been separated from Statices when Wailes wrote, and he gave 

 correctly the locality for it, and pointed out differences in the 

 specimens taken there from the true Statices occurring elsewhere. 

 Some of the species he recorded have long ago disappeared from 

 the district, though they were common enoagh in his day. It 

 is more than probable that others will have disappeared from 

 the groups he did not deal with, and by the non-completion of 

 his catalogue, we have lost the opportunity of knowing what 

 they were — an important matter in studying the fauna of a 

 district. I have made every possible enquiry to trace any 

 papers or memoranda he might have left, but quite without 

 success. Some insects purporting to be his collection were sold 

 in London in May, 1884, but they were few in number, and 

 not at all representative of the district. 



The earlier attempts to arrange Lepidoptera in some sort of 

 natural sequence placed the Butterflies first, and the other 

 groups in such order that the larger species immediately 

 followed the butterflies, and the smaller ones were placed at 

 the end. It thus happened that the order was divided into two 

 portions called Macro- and Micro-Lepidopiera. That there 

 was no scientific reason for the division did not hinder its very 

 general adoption. It also happened that the collection of 

 Lepidoptera was taken up by many persons as an intelligent 

 recreation, and a pleasant change from the cares of business, 

 rather than as a purely scientific study. These collectors very 

 generally confined themselves to the larger species ; they were 

 easier to manipulate, and their appearance in the cabinet was 



