V 
Preface. 
In completing the work of the 9th Volume of the ,,Macrolepidoptera of the World“, I beg from the 
reader an indulgent and lenient criticism. The present time, in consequence of European troubles, is the most 
unsuitable for editing large and costly works, and this 6th volume has had to suffer from still further severe 
setbacks. The whole volume had been written, the first 800 pages edited, and all the plates prepared, when 
the war suddenly broke out; only the textual part of the Lycaenidae was incomplete. Many well-known authors 
had promised to undertake the work, but had never carried out their designs. Eventually the author of the 
greater part of this volume, H. Fruhstorfer, decided to take this chapter in hand. But after the plates had 
been prepared according to his instructions, he was compelled to make a pause of several years, and death 
overtook him before he was able to take the work up again. 
It was quite impossible to furnish another production of the twenty-two very complicated plates of 
the Lycaenidae according to the proposals of other authors, and it can be easily understood that no collaborator 
could be found who would conform in every respect to the plates which were already published. Under these 
circumstances, I, as editor, was obliged to undertake the composition of this chapter myself. 
In doing this I thought the correct thing would be to keep strictly to Eruhstorfer’s plans, even where 
my views differed from his. On the one hand, I was forced to do so, by the plates having been executed according 
to Eruhstorfer’s instructions and sketches, and from which the text could not deviate; on the other, I thought 
thereby to maintain the homogeneous character of the rest of the volume, all of which, excepting the chapter 
on the Papilionidae, is from the pen of Eruhstorfer. By the kind help of Dr. vox Rosen of Munich, I was 
fortunately able to obtain a great deal of information with regard to the copies of the figures; some doubts, 
however, remained unsolved, since neither the manuscript nor any notes were obtainable from the property 
left by Eruhstorfer. It seems that he had the intention of inserting new descriptions where he deemed it 
necessary, and had sketched a few entirely unknown lepidopteral species, with which later authors could do 
absolutely nothing, as there were no identifications whatsoever. 
It took several more years to clear up further doubts, and when all was finished, the edition of the 
Lycaenidae had taken 12 years to complete (from 1915 to 1927) whereas nearly 900 of the Indo-Australian 
Rhopalocera had been accomplished in a few years, and edited in the time suggested in the original programme. 
The one hundred and seventy-seven plates of the work have been executed according to the method 
applied in other countries — nearly all from nature, and I feel infinitely indebted for the helpful assistance 
I have received in procuring and elaborating the vast number of drawings. It is above all to Lord Rothschild 
that I owe my gratitude, for having loaned all the Papilionidae, written up by Dr. Jordan of the Tring Museum. 
Moreover, the extensive collection of Semper of the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfort was at my disposal, 
so that nearly all the illustrations of the Philippine species could be made from the respective authentic specimens. 
My own collection, which is now also in the Senckenbergianum at Frankfort, and which altogether contained 
more than 70 000 specimens, had been enlarged to a considerable size by numerous voyages to India, China, 
and Australia. Fruhstorfer had taken nearly all of plates 51 —162 from originals in his collection, and thus 
an approximate completeness of copies was achieved, in which one or a few forms obtainable to collectors were 
reproduced. The chief idea in doing this was to limit as much as possible those plates that would have rendered 
