§ INTRODUCTION. 



before observed, embraced all the Lepidoptera of Java, particularly those of the 

 central portions or the territory of the native Princes, and an essential part of 

 it was to undertake, from time to time, journeys to the hills, mountains, and 

 forests remote from the capital: during these excursions I was provided with 

 breeding-cages, materials for collecting and preserving, and accompanied by my 

 draughtsmen and native assistants. The excursions generally afforded new and 

 interesting subjects : in many cases the larvae and chrysalides were carried to my 

 residence, and there brought to maturity at their regular periods. Having con- 

 tinued this mode of research for two seasons, my labours were unexpectedly ter- 

 minated, by the transfer of Java to another European power. The disappointment 

 which this occasioned at the moment, arose principally from considerations of the 

 unfinished state of my research, and from the abridgment of my original design. 

 Although supported, in later periods, by a large portion of public liberality and 

 patronage, my progress had been very gradual, and had depended in the com- 

 mencement, in a great measure, on my own exertions. By a steady adherence 

 to the same object, I had provided an extensive establishment for prosecuting inquiries 

 of natural history in its various branches, among which the facilities above described 

 were not the least. I therefore regretted to have been obliged to abandon a pursuit 

 which had been an object of my early solicitude, and which soon after its commence- 

 ment had been postponed in consequence of the visit to Banka abovementioned. 

 These remarks were deemed necessary in order to account for the limited state of the 

 collection, since it by no means corresponds with the richness of the territory or the 

 length of my residence in the eastern islands. What is now offered to the public is 

 little more than a fragment of a more extensive undertaking, which was intended to 

 assemble, as far as, possible, a complete series of Javanese insects, and especially to 

 exhibit a comprehensive view of the metamorphoses of the Lepidoptera of the island. 

 The sentiments of regret occasioned by the abrupt and unforeseen termination of my 

 entomological pursuits, and the considerations arising from the unfinished state of 

 my collections, were heightened by similar disappointments in my pursuits in 

 botany and other branches of natural history, and my preparations for a departure, 

 of which I am now to give a concise notice, were undertaken with many discouraging 

 reflections. But a favourable series of events has in a great measure removed my 

 former apprehensions : and although I notice at the present period, perhaps more 

 forcibly, the unfinished state of my collections, and the deficiencies arising from 

 their abrupt termination, yet the success in bringing the entire result of my in- 

 quiries into a place of safety, without any considerable loss or damage during the 

 voyage, the favourable reception which I have met with in England, and the liberal 

 patronage which has been afforded to my endeavours by the Honourable Court of 



Directors 



