INTRODUCTION. 
to Europe ; * but it is of the authors who have 
treated of extra-European Lepidoptera that we wish 
at present more particularly to speak. 
The splendid work of Madame Merian on the 
Insects of Surinam, published in 1705, may be re- 
garded as the first illustrated work of any con- 
sequence devoted to exotic entomology. About 
one-half of it is occupied with the crepuscular and 
nocturnal Lepidoptera ; and several of the most 
conspicuous kinds of the tropical parts of the New 
World are represented, such as Attacus erythrirwe^ 
Erehus strix^ Attacus aurota^ Hesperus, &c., besides 
numerous species of Sphingidce. Viewed in relation 
to its merits as a work of art, this publication is 
deserving of high praise; the objects are gracefully 
grouped and distributed, and great freedom and 
power of drawing is often displayed. But it derives 
its chief value in the eyes of naturalists from the 
figures of the caterpillars, which are almost always 
given, and generally executed with much greater 
care than those of the perfect insects. A few glar- 
ing errors into which the fair authoress has fallen, 
have, it is true, produced some degree of doubt 
as to the fidelity of her representations ; but in 
general there is no reason why they should not 
be relied on. Many caterpillars are to be found 
here, for which we should look in vain in any work 
of more recent date. It is to be lamented that the 
* A very full list of the writers on European Lepidoptera 
will be found in Westwood's Modem Classification of Insects, 
vol. ii. p. 308. 
