AUTHORS' PREFACE. 



The Hawk-Moths of India were first classified by Sir George 

 Hampson in ' The Fauna of British India. — Moths,' vol. i, 

 published in 1892. In 1903 Rothschild and Jordan published 

 "A Revision of the Sphingidse,' dealing with the Hawk-Moths 

 of the World, and in 1904 Sir George Hampson published 

 supplementary papers to ' The Fauna of British India ' 

 volumes, in which he adopted Rothschild and Jordan's classifi- 

 cation as applied to the Hawk-Moths of India, in the ' Journal 

 of the Bombay Natural History Society,' vol. xv, p. 630. 

 Since that date nothing has been published dealing with 

 the Hawk-Moths of India as a whole and separate from those 

 of other regions. 



In this volume we attempt to remedy this deficiency, and 

 to bring together information which has been published by 

 other authors, supplemented by the results of our own studies, 

 in a form suitable for the use of students in India. Our work 

 covers the whole Indian Empire, including Burma and the 

 Andaman Islands, and Ceylon. 



Our own studies have been concerned chiefly with the 

 early stages, which have been hardly touched upon by previous 

 authors. We have bred a large proportion of the Indian 

 Hawk-Moths, and have made careful descriptions of the early 

 stages, life-history and habits, supplemented by paintings 

 of the early stages of many species made by Miss E. M. Bell 

 and by Lt.-Col. F. B. Scott, Indian Army, who has also taken 

 photographs of the caterpillars and moths of many species. 



