prospectus. 

 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



THE TINEINA. 



It had long been a matter of reproach to English Collectors 

 of Lepidoptera that they were not observers of the objects 

 of their pursuit, and especially that they knew nothing of 

 the preparatory states of the Insects they caught. 



This was especially true with respect to the Tineina ; 

 but of late years more attention has been paid to their 

 larvae, and a considerable quantity of materials towards the 

 Natural History of this Group having been collected, it 

 is proposed to make it generally useful by publication on 

 the following plan, by which the difficulty, hitherto urged, 

 of its incompleteness, will, to a great extent, be obviated. 



When it has hitherto been attempted to give the Natural 

 History of Insects, in the order of the relation of the 

 species to each other, it has followed in consequence of the 

 economy of the majority of the species being unknown, 

 that nine-tenths of the matter has been dry descriptions of 

 perfect insects only. To obviate this serious defect it is 

 now proposed to publish a Series of Octavo Volumes, each 

 containing the full natural history of Twenty-four 

 allied Species; thus the order of* the appearance of the 

 volumes will mainly depend on the progress made in inves- 

 tigating the Natural Histories of the Species of any particular 

 Genus. 



One important feature in the proposed work is the Plates, 

 of which there will be Eight in each volume; they will be 

 coloured, and each will represent on a magnified scale the 

 Transformations of Three Species. These Plates will be 

 brought out with great care, and the execution of them is 

 entrusted to Mr. W. Wing. The Plates to Mr. Douglas's 

 "Contributions to the Natural History of the British Micro- 

 Lepidoptera," which have appeared in the Transactions of 

 the Entomological Society, may be referred to as specimens. 



