VI 
PREFACE. 
properly classified collections or accepted works of reference, I 
have prefixed an Introduction, winch comprises a brief notice of 
the structure of insects generally, and a fuller account of the 
Order Lepidoptera, After the technical diagnosis of the Sub- 
Order Rhopalocera, which follows, I give at some length a series 
of general observations on butterflies, under the heads of ; i . Dis- 
tinctive Characters of Khopalocera ; 2. Classification ; 3. Geogra- 
phical Distribution ; 4. Differences Presented by the Sexes ; 5. 
Haunts and Habits ; 6. Protective Eesemblances and Mimicry ; 
and 7. South-African Butterflies. In Plate A., exhibiting the 
neuration of the wings and some other structural features of 
chief value in classification, I have selected for illustration a 
common and characteristic sjDecies of each Family and Sub- 
Family inhabiting South Africa, and in the explanation accom- 
panying the plate I have entered into full details. 
In the generalities just referred to, as well as in the subse- 
quent ones following the diagnosis of the various Families, 
Sub-Families, and Genera, care has been taken not to confine 
them to South- African, or even to Ethiopian forms, but to 
include, wherever serviceable, reference to allied groups or 
species in other parts of the world. 
In dealing with the species, the progress of observation 
has made it practicable to give, either from my own or (more 
frequently) others' notes, many more interesting details of 
the larvae, pupae, and habits generally than were contained in 
my former work. In revising the synonymy, I have endea- 
voured (following the example long ago set by the illustrious 
Darwin) to weed it of "references to works in which there is 
not any original matter, or in which the plates are not of a 
high order of excellence ; " ^ and in all cases where the authority 
was accessible to me, I have personally verified every reference 
given either to a description or to a figure. In instances where 
this has not been practicable, inverted commas denote that the 
^ Monogr. on the Sub-Class Cirrlpedia, i. p. x. (1851). 
