PREFACE. 



In submitting this volume to the entomological public, the author 

 trusts that the method of treatment will commend itself. The recent 

 work that has been accomplished in the classification of the Lepidoptera 

 by Chapman, Dyar, Packard and others, has rendered a radical re- 

 arrangement necessary. In commencing with the more generalised, 

 and proceeding to the more specialised, superfamilies, the author con- 

 siders that he has adopted a logical course that will meet with the 

 approval of those best qualified to judge in this matter. It has been 

 considered better to complete thoroughly a few superfamilies rather 

 than to attempt to deal with a large number superficially, and it is 

 hoped that the separate treatment of the main points in the life-history 

 of each species dealt with, will be of advantage to the various classes of 

 entomologists — synonymists, systematists, biologists, and those that 

 study the subject under its geographical, or any one of its philosophical 



A large part of a work of this description is necessarily more or less 

 a compilation, and the author wishes here to express his obligation to 

 those authors to whose works he is indebted for information, as well as 

 to the very great number of entomologists (rather more than 200 in 

 number) to whom he is indebted for local lists, and to those who have 

 supplied him with other items of interest that have added to the 

 usefulness and completeness of the volume. These have always been 

 acknowledged, he believes, in the body of the work. There are many, 

 however, who have done much more than this. To Messrs. J. H. 

 Durrant, W. F. Kirby, L. B. Prout and Lord Walsingham, for their 

 help in dealing with matters of " synonymy," to Messrs. A. Bacot, 

 W. H. B. Fletcher, Drs. T. A. Chapman and J. H. Wood, for the vast 

 amount of information relating to the " life-histories " of the insects 

 described, to Mr. G. C. Bignell for notes on the "parasites" affecting 

 them, to Mr. F. Lemann for copious translations from German works, 

 to M. Oberthiir for the gift and loan of many rare Anthrocerids, and 

 to Mr. C. Fenn for the generous use of his voluminous note-books, the 

 author tenders his sincerest and grateful thanks. 



Although essentially a work on British Lepidoptera, it is trusted 

 that it will have an interest for other than purely British lepidopterists. 

 The chapters on each superfamily cover the whole fauna included in the 

 superfamily, and should, therefore, be of use generally to students of 

 these superfamilies. The " distribution " of each species, too, outside 

 the British Isles, is considered separately from the recorded localities 

 within the limits of our own country, and should be useful to students 

 of geographical distribution in all parts of the world. 



The author is fully aware that in a book containing so much detail, 

 there must necessarily be many sins of commission and omission. He 

 can only hope that these are not serious, and assure his readers that he 

 has taken the greatest care to eliminate them. 



The trouble to which the author has been put, and the hours of 

 comparatively waste time that he has spent, in compiling the lists of 

 localities, synonymic tables, distribution, etc., and in unearthing records 



