The object and extent of this work, the materials whence it is produced, the 

 treatment and distribution of the subjects, and the design and arrangement of the 

 illustrations afforded by the plates, have been distinctly detailed in my original 

 prospectus. It was further stated that the parts would follow each other with 

 every degree of expedition consistent with the style in which the work had been 

 commenced ; and a prospect was held out of publishing the successive parts at 

 intervals of six months. 



In Conducting the second part, every exertion has been made to adhere to this 

 engagement ; twelve months have, however, elapsed since the publication of the 

 first part. The drawings, dissections, and engravings have occupied more than one 

 half of this "period, and the remainder has scarcely been sufficient for the com- 

 pletion of the colouring of the.plates in the style in which they are offered. It is 

 therefore incumbent on me, respectfully to inform the honourable patrons of this 

 work, as well as my friends and the public at large, that the remaining parts will 

 individually require, one year, on an average, for their completion. The third part, 

 now in progress, will accordingly be published in the course of the year 1830, with 

 every expedition consistent with my plan. 



It is also my duty to state, in anticipation of any objection which might arise to 

 the work, from the extent and copiousness of the characters and descriptions, 

 that a modification has been adopted in the second stirps of the Diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera, by which I am enabled to obtain every degree of brevity and conciseness 

 required for the completion of the work within the limits proposed. In the 

 Vermiform stirps I thought it advisable to adhere to the form originally adopted 

 in the descriptions of the numerous novel and interesting subjects it contains ; 

 but in commencing the Chilognathiform stirps, I have adopted the following modi- 

 fications. The generic character is given in Latin alone : yet although the detailed 

 English translation is dispensed with, the explanatory observations and historical 

 remarks will be continued after the model of the Vermiform stirps. In the Latin 

 technical character of the species, a greater degree of conciseness is employed, 

 and a more or less literal translation is added in place of a free and copious 

 English . description. Species already well known and clearly described are 

 given with the name, and several of the most important synonyms. New species 

 if necessary, will be illustrated by concise Latin remarks. The miscellaneous 

 observations containing the history of those individuals traced by me throuo-h 

 their various stages of existence, and of which our collection contains repre- 

 sentations in their larva and chrysalis states, as well as the peculiarities I have 

 noticed in Java, regarding their relative abundance or scarcity, their food 

 habits, and season of appearance, will be continued as heretofore ; and the object 

 will be perpetually kept in view, of rendering the work generally useful and inte- 

 resting to the British naturalist. 



T TJ 



