THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 75.] MARCH, MDCCCLXX. [Price 6d. 



Concerning the Classification of Biitterjiies. 

 By Edward Newman. 



It followed as a matter of course that so soon as Ento- 

 mology became a distinct and independent science, instead 

 of remaining, as it began under the great Linneus, an integral 

 portion of the more extended science of Zoology — it followed, 

 1 say, as a matter of course that the gorgeous butterflies 

 should attract a large if not a principal share of attention. 

 Linneus was one of the earliest to extol their beauty and to 

 attempt their classification ; and although we have allowed 

 the names and even the characters which he employed in 

 forming his divisions, to drop out of use, and to be preserved 

 rather as "curiosities of literature" than as lessons for our 

 guidance, it is impossible for the modern entomologist to 

 study the divisions themselves without feeling the most pro- 

 found respect for the genius of him who was the first to 

 detect and associate groups so natural. Almost immediately 

 after the publication of the earliest efforts of this master 

 mind, which we may date 1756 — 60, two officers in the 

 Austrian army, Denis and Schiff'ermuller, issued a work now 

 known as the Vienna Catalogue; and in this work, dated 

 1776, was introduced an entirely new element of classifica- 

 tion : adopting as their motto the words " One eye to the 

 imago, and another to the larva," these illustrious Austrians 

 opened a mine of knowledge with which Linneus, who 

 drew his characters from the imago only, was entirely un- 

 acquainted. 



Mr. Swainson and Dr. Horsfield seem to have been the 

 earliest entomologists who thoroughly appreciated the im- 

 portance of the Vienna Catalogue ; and both of them studied 

 the preparatory stages of a butterfly's life-history before 

 giving to the world their matured views of classification. 

 And here I may observe that it is not a little remarkable that 



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