PREFACE. 
In the present volume the two remaining subfamilies of the 
Noctuide, the Focilline and Deltoidine, are described. The 
latter consists of slenderly built, semidiurnal, grass-frequenting 
forms which show far greater diversity of structure in both 
generic and secondary sexual characters than the other groups 
of the Noctuwide. It exhibits a gradual development from 
forms with straight palpi fringed with hair above, such as 
Hypena, which is closely allied to the Sarrothripiné and to 
the ancestors of the Noctuide and Noline, through forms 
with oblique palpi, to a group possessing palpi of an extremely 
curved sickle-shaped type: from this group arose the stouter 
built more typically Noctuiform and nocturnal Focilline 
and Quadrifine. 
The Epicopide, Uranude, Epiplemide, and Geometride 
belong to the group of families in which vein 5 of the fore 
wing arises from the middle of the discocellulars. The first 
three are closely allied and might perhaps be regarded as 
subdivisions of one family, the Uraniide, which is most nearly 
related to the Bombycide and Saturnide, some early form of 
the same stock having also given rise to the Geometride and 
Notodontide. 
In the Geometride Mr. Meyrick’s excellent division into 
subfamilies has been followed, and his classification will almost 
certainly remain as the basis of any future work on the 
subject. His definitions of the Kuropean genera also are 
found to hold to a great extent for Indian forms, but least so 
in the Boarmiine, which is far the most difficult subfamily to 
classify, owing to the great diversity of structure that is found 
in closely allied forms and to a large amount of individual 
variation. It will require a considerably extended study, 
embracing the forms of all the zoological regions, before a 
really permanent classification can be arrived at. 
The Orthostiwinme and Cinochromine contain the most 
primitive forms in the family ; the former has vein 8 of the 
hind wing connected with the cell by a bar near the base, the 
remains of one of the lost subcostals. Fromthe Orthostixine 
have arisen (1) the Acidaliine and Geometrine, by vein 8 of 
a2 
