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THE
GENERA AND SPECIES
Preface
When I first became a collector of Butterflies, the pursuit was much less common than now; and few works upon the subject, in a popular form, existed ; so that as my cabinet increased I began to find the want of some instructive manual, in which the distinctive characters of the different kinds of British Butterflies were not only described but also exhibited, by means of coloured representations of all the species, each of its natural size, and accompanied by their respective larvae. Finding that no such work then existed, I determined to produce one myself; and, obtaining the aid of one of our most eminent entomologists, J. 0. Westwood, Esq., I published, with his valuable assistance, a volume which I entitled “British Butterflies and their Transformations. ”
The work was well received, and its sale has exhausted several editions. It undoubtedly did its part, however small, in extending the general taste for entomological studies ; but as the circle of students became wider, it appeared to me that a work of less bulk, and of more popular character, might be serviceable. I therefore deemed this a fitting time for remodelling my subject, more especially as many changes have taken place in the mode of classifying our native Lepidoptera. With this view I have undertaken the present work, ■which, while it will be far less voluminous than the former one, in as far as the text is concerned, will yet contain a greater number of coloured representations of our British Butterflies, of which no single species, or even striking variety, will be omitted, and all the new species and varieties of recent discovery will be introduced.
Without sacrificing anything, as I hope, of scientific accuracy, I have sought to render the present work, and its subject, more attractive by exhibiting the insects in picturesque groups, flitting among the foliage and flowers of their native haunts, or hovering over plants upon which the larvae may be seen feeding. I imagined that by thus presenting our indigenous butterflies to the notice of the student under a natural aspect, instead of displaying them in the form of dried specimens, as stiffly pinned out in a cabinet, my volume might possess the advantage (as an introductory work) of attracting many towards the study of this branch of Natural History who might be repelled by a more dry and technical arrangement. I mean such as generally characterises entomological works which have any pretension to a regular and comprehensive character; or such as embrace (as in the present instance) the complete treatment of any special section of the science.
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