VI. PREFACE. 



For any scientific value that there may be in this volume, 

 lepidopterists are indebted to many willing helpers, and es ecially 

 to Dr. Chapman, Messrs. A. W. Bacot and L. B. Prout. To these 

 my sincerest thanks are due, for not only have all their own 

 discoveries and original descriptions been inserted first hand, but 

 the generous labour that they have bestowed on the work in order 

 to make it a success has been no whit less onerous than my own. 

 To many other lepidopterists my best thanks are also due, among 

 whom, Mrs. Cowl, Messrs. Bignell, Durrant, Griffiths, Oberthiir and 

 Sich may not pass unmentioned. The body of the work itself will 

 show where help has been so generously given. 



The criticisms passed on the last volume, so far as they bore 

 suggestions to carry out in future volumes, were largely, as I 

 had anticipated, directed to the problem of getting a quart into a 

 pint pot. Those of Messrs. Kirby and Merrifield for an extended 

 Contents," I have, in this volume, carried out, that of Mr. Bateson 

 for a comprehensive general index in addition to the one 

 already supplied is more difficult. It is purely a question of time 

 which I have unfortunately not at my disposal. If anyone will do a 

 careful general index to vols, i, ii, and iii, I will publish it 

 with the next volume. Mr. Bateson's further claim on our space 

 for fuller references must also at present remain unheeded. One 

 may fairly claim that few lepidopterological books are so thoroughly 

 indexed, and none has so complete a set of references (synonymic 

 and otherwise) as this. Books like this are after all a labour of 

 love, they can never be expected to pay expenses, and a busy 

 man must draw the line somewhere. 



In this volume another departure has been made. In vols, i 

 and ii I accepted the ruling of certain authorities in the matter 

 of nomenclature. My own opinion that " Synonymy is of the 

 devil" has been quoted sufficiently to ensure that British lepidop- 

 terists, at least, know my own private opinion thereof. But my 

 readiness to accept the dicta of the authorities (who differ so 

 widely among themselves) led me into many illogical positions and 

 forced me at last to take an independent stand on the subject. 

 I have discussed the synonymy of the Sphingids largely on the 

 lines of the " Merton Rules," and certainly to me we appear to 

 have reached a point at which the maximum of accuracy and the 

 least possible alteration of names in the future have been attained 

 if the rules be logically applied. I would if I could have nothing to 

 do with synonymy ; circumstances are frequently stronger than 

 ourselves. 



The completion of another volume enables me to again fulfil 

 one of the most delightful obligations, viz., to thank all those 

 lepidopterists without whose generous help these volumes would 

 never see the light. Few new subscribers have come in since the 

 publication of the last volume. More particularly I am dis- 

 appointed that the work, so kindly received by a few leading 

 American lepidopterists, has not been found more generally useful 

 in America, where scientific entomology lias touched a point never 

 reached before. Perhaps the title British Lepidoptera is against the 

 work abroad ; one can only trust that it is not so. 



