PREFACE. 



With many misgivings we present another of our volumes of A 

 Natural History of the British Lepidoptera to our subscribers. The 

 misgivings arise chiefly from our own feeling that, hard as we have 

 striven to reach our ideal, we have in many ways failed signally to do 

 so. Yet it is hoped that the labour expended on the present book will 

 be considered by our supporters as a fair attempt to present to them a 

 connected account of the biology of. the species in a clear and easily 

 understood form, whilst giving also a full, comprehensive, and detailed 

 survey of the history and literature of the insects treated. 



Although for some 140 years naturalists have known most of the 

 few species here dealt with, and, although references innumerable have 

 been made to them, yet ; on the biological side, scarcely anything has 

 been done. To this statement, exception must be made in the case of 

 Zeller's short outlines of the life-history of Everes argiades and Cupido 

 minimus, Edwards' brief account of the American form of the former 

 species, and Frohawk's ontogenetic outline concerning the summer 

 form of the same species, as well as similar outlines of those of Plebeius 

 argus and Cyaniris sem.iargus, the latter published whilst this volume 

 has been going through the press. If to these we add Buckler's brief 

 notes on Cupido minimus and Plebeius argus, we shall have noticed 

 almost everything that has been done in this direction. These brief 

 accounts are, however, altogether wanting in the details that enable us 

 to make use of the early stages for classificatory purposes. For these 

 details, as before, we are indebted to the masterly descriptions prepared 

 for this work by Dr. T. A. Chapman. 



Of the imagines, much has been written ; often the records have 

 been vague, uncertain, and frequently incorrect, and dealing with this 

 published material has been our great trouble. Authorities (!) unable 

 to name their species, failure to discriminate between allied species, 

 doubt thrown by the more intelligent collectors on the specific value 

 of forms of the species captured in outlying districts, all represent 

 sources of endless work and trouble in unravelling the tangles in the 

 skeins which they have attempted to manipulate. Ignorance of 

 structural characters, which has led the more superficial among our 

 systematists and catalogue-makers to lump species belonging to the 

 most diverse groups of blues into one huge genus — Lycaena, Polyom- 

 matus, or whatever name the peculiar temperament of the individual 

 may select, for in no case do such men study the subject de novo — has 

 not lessened the almost hopeless muddle. We have already shown 

 (in vol. ix) the amazing differences between the Lampidid and 

 Celastrinid tribes, when compared with the main group of Plebeiid 

 blues. We now show the equally great difference between the Everids 

 and the Plebeiids, and, at the same time, are attempting to indicate 

 how the latter break up into natural groups, often quite easy to 

 discriminate by a mere inspection of the imagines, and frequently 

 supported by details of structure in the egg, larval, and pupal stages. 

 We do not expect the mass of lepidopterists yet to follow us in 

 this branch of our work ; the detailed knowledge required to separate 

 the species of the genus Plebeius (argus, etc.) from those of Cyaniris 

 (semiargus, etc.) and Ayriadea (thetis, etc.), is not to be expected 

 from lepidopterists who attempt to study the whole order Lepidop- 

 tera in part of a very limited life-time, and our conclusions are sure 

 to be resented by those who do not grant that, or act as if they did 

 not consider that, i be human mind was bound bv limitations of time 



