A Natural History Of The British Lepidoptera Vol 1 PDF Download

Excerpt from A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera, Vol. 1: A d104-Book for Students and Collectors In submitting this volume to the entomological public, the author trusts that the method of treatment will commend itself. The recent work that has been accomplished in the classification of the Lepidoptera by Chapman, Dyar, Packard and others, has rendered a radical rearrangement necessary. In commencing with the more generalised, and proceeding to the more specialised, superfamilies, the author considers that he has adopted a logical course that will meet with the approval of those best qualified to judge in this matter. It has been considered better to complete thoroughly a few superfamilies rather than to attempt to deal with a large number superficially, and it is hoped that the separate treatment of the main points in the life-history of each species dealt with, will be of advantage to the various classes of entomologists - synonymists, systematists, biologists, and those that study the subject under its geographical, or any one of its philosophical aspects. A large part of a work of this description is necessarily more or less a compilation, and the author wishes here to express his obligation to those authors to whose works he is indebted for information, as well as to the very great number of entomologists (rather more than 200 in number) to whom he is indebted for local lists, and to those who have supplied him with other items of interest that have added to the usefulness and completeness of the volume. These have always been acknowledged, he believes, in the body of the work. There are many, however, who have done much more than this. To Messrs. J. H. Durrant, W. F. Kirby, L. B. Prout and Lord Walsingham, for their help in dealing with matters of "synonymy," to Messrs. A. Bacot, W. H. B.Fletcher, Drs. T. A. Chapman and J. H. Wood, for the vast amount of information relating to the "life-histories" of the insects described, to Mr. G. C. Bignell for notes on the "parasites" affecting them, to Mr. F. Lemann for copious translations from German works, to M. Oberthur for the gift and loan of many rare Anthrocerids, and to Mr. C. Fenn for the generous use of his voluminous note-books, the author tenders his sincerest and grateful thanks. Although essentially a work on British Lepidoptera, it is trusted that it will have an interest for other than purely British lepidopterists. The chapters on each superfamily cover the whole fauna included in the superfamily, and should, therefore, be of use generally to students of these superfamilies. The "distribution" of each species, too, outside the British Isles, is considered separately from the recorded localities within the limits of our own country, and should be useful to students of geographical distribution in all parts of the world. The author is fully aware that in a book containing so much detail, there must necessarily be many sins of commission and omission. He can only hope that these are not serious, and assure his readers that he has taken the greatest care to eliminate them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."