INTRODUCTION. 
76 
received from tlie commander of the vessel during 
the voyage, I enjoy the satisfaction of having brought 
the whole in safety to England '"'." 
The systematic arrangement of this tribe of in- 
sects has always been considered a task of great 
difficulty. So convinced of this was Latreille, who 
had himself studied the subject profoundly, that he 
says a classification of lepidoptera may be considered 
the touchstone of entomologists. This difficulty 
arises chiefly from the uniformity of organization 
which prevails throughout the order — a uniformity 
occasioned by all of them being designed to subsist 
on liquid food, and to imbibe it in the same man- 
ner. The oral organs, therefore, which are of the 
first importance in classifying other tribes — the cole- 
optera, for example, in which they undergo almost 
endless valuations of form and consistency to fit 
them for consuming every kind of organic substance, 
from semi-fluid animal or vegetable matter to the 
hardest ligneous tissue — are, in this instance, of 
comparatively little avail. Recourse must be had 
to secondary and subordinate characters ; and even 
when we are convinced that, owing to a peculiar 
facies, and the concurrence of many minute resem- 
blances, certain groups should be regarded as dis- 
tinct, it is found difficult to define them in a satis- 
factory manner. Neither has the difficulty been 
much lessened by the manner in which the subject 
* Horsfi eld’s Catal. of the Lepidopterous Insects of Java, 
Intro, p. 9, 
