N O T I C E .
LONDON:
liRADBUBY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
^J^HE object of the Work now offered to the notice of the Entomologist and lover of Nature
in general, is to present a Series of Figures of some of the rarer and more splendid species
of Insects which have within these few last years been for^varded to England, from the various
districts of India and the adjacent islands.
It is indeed sm-prising that, notwithstanding the vast extent of om- Indian territories, and
the extraordinary brilliancy of many of the Entomological productions of that portion of the
globe, we should hitherto have had no work expressly devoted to the Insects of India, except
the single volume published by Mr. Donovan, nearly fifty years ago; whilst, nevertheless, our
cabinets, owing to the zeal with which this branch of Zoology is pui'sued by many Entomologists in
those regions, teem ^vith novelties which -n-oidd alone form tlie materials of many volumes..
A most elaborate work, indeed, on the Lepidopterous Insects of Java, was commenced by
Dr. Horsfield, neiu-ly twenty years ago, which, had it been completed, would have left nothing
to be desired on that branch of the subject, so far as the Javanese species are concerned. Another
work, also of a very splendid character, has been commenced by Dr. De Haan, on the Insects
of the Dutch Settlements iu the East, of which, however, two numbers only have yet appeared,
restricted to two groups of Insects. A partial attempt to remedy this consequent deficiency
was made in my " Arcana Entomologica," in which several interesting Oriental groups were
illustrated; but the smaU size of the plates of that work prevented the introduction of many of
the larger species, and a desii-e to give to it as scientific a character as lay in my power, rendered
necessary much technical detail. The present work, however, is proposed to be rather a pictorial
illustration of the larger and more splendid species; and, as such, it is hoped, that, by finding its way
to the table of the Indian drawing-room, it may gain additional converts to the studv of a science