10 INTRODUCTION. 



increase of the collection. The wood of the Bombax pentandrum was employed for 

 lining the boards and securing the pins ; and I ascribe to an acquaintance with the 

 peculiar property of this wood, which renders it an effectual substitute for cork, the 

 preservation of the collection during its transportation. After having carefully packed 

 the subjects, every necessary precaution that suggested itself was used in securing the 

 boxes against accidents during the voyage. They were individually painted and co- 

 vered with oil-cloth. Each box was then placed in an outer case, made of the same 

 substantial materials, and secured in the same manner. By these various precautions, 

 and by the care which the collection received from the commander of the vessel 

 during the voyage, I enjoy the satisfaction of having brought the whole in safety to 

 England. 



When I had formed the plan of undertaking the description of the Lepidopterous 

 Insects from Java, contained in the Museum of the Honourable East-India Com- 

 pany, I was naturally led, by the preparatory pursuits of which I have now given a 

 hasty sketch, to inquire, in how far an arrangement might be effected, which should 

 be founded primarily on their metamorphosis. The remarks which occurred on this 

 subject, in various parts of the Horse Entomological, tended to confirm and enlarge 

 my early and imperfect notions. It would be foreign to my present purpose to 

 follow Mr. Macleay in his copious details and remarks on this point, but on the 

 whole, they have encouraged me to persevere in the attempt. Thus, for instance, in 

 one place, he is led to " inquire into the possibility of being enabled to show that the 

 most distinguished among naturalists have united in expressing their conviction, 

 that considerations founded on metamorphosis must ultimately produce the most 

 natural plan of entomological arrangement ;" and to state, " that he thinks it may be 

 inferred, from a sketch he proposes to give of some of the most remarkable truths in 

 Natural History, that this proposition ought not to be deemed incapable of demon- 

 stration." Bearing in mind, therefore, this and similar remarks, I was anxious to 

 ascertain what information had already been brought before the public regarding 

 the metamorphosis of East- Indian Lepidoptera. My research, in this point of view, 

 however, afforded me no satisfactory result. I found, indeed, in the work of 

 Cramer, continued by Stoll, and in Abbot's Georgian Insects, published by Sir 

 James Smith, delineations of the larvae and chrysalides of many Lepidoptera of the 

 tropical countries of the new world ; but these were only useful for comparisons. 

 Subjects exclusively Indian, which alone were calculated to afford that precise infor- 

 mation which I was in search of, and which would likewise practically confirm the 

 faithfulness and accuracy of my own observations, did not occur to my research. I 

 was, therefore, I may say, almost necessarily restricted to my own materials and 

 remarks, and I determined to attempt their arrangement according to the principles 



above 



