
PREFACE. 

In commencing the study of insects, the order Lepidoptera, containing the beautiful tribes of 
Butterflies, Sphinges, and Moths, seldom fails to attract the earliest attention of the naturalist. When 
first I began to collect insects myself, my rambles in the fields and woods were confined to the day, and 
in the mid-day sunshine Butterflies were the most conspicuous objects, and to that division consequently 
my first labours of illustration were directed. But as I became more acquainted with the night-flying 
tribes of this beautiful class of insects, I became still more interested in the Moths. The British Moths 
are not perhaps so gaily coloured as their more gaudy rivals, the butterflies ; but when we consider the 
splendid sphinges, or twilight fliers, by which they are linked to the day-flying butterflies, they can 
scarcely be deemed less beautiful. Indeed, in the larva stage, many moths surpass in their wonderful 
raiment of velvet and satin, of ermine and sable, jewelled over with gold and silver studs of various 
metallic tints, anything which the butterfly division can boast; and the careful portraiture of these 
truly magnificent caterpillars will form a principal feature in the present work. The gorgeous colouring 
and texture of the caterpillar frequently disappear mm the perfect moth; but are replaced by intricate 
and graceful pencillings, and wonderfully elegant and varied markings, which amply repay the loss of 
glowing tints. 
But the moths are infinitely more interesting to the collector on account of their numbers, in which 
they greatly exceed the butterflies, and which will oblige me in the present work frequently to give as 
many as twenty species upon a single plate ; a labour which I shall cheerfully undertake, in order to 
produce a more complete, and at the same time more accessible work than has hitherto appeared upon 
the subject; for m order to make it equally popular and attainable by all classes, it will be published at 
the same low price as the butterflies, notwithstanding the great increase of labour and expense attendant 
upon its production. 
The occupation of forming a collection of moths is more interesting than is the case with butterflies, 
inasmuch as with the former many ingenious stratagems may be employed with the greatest success ; 
whilst with the latter, watching for the insect in the broad sunshine, and capturing it by sheer dexterity 
of hand and speed of foot, is the only practicable mode of operation. Stratagem is certainly much more 
interesting than this obvious mode of proceeding; for instance, when all appears utterly still in the 
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