I have almost invariably adopted the very proper principle of referring to that name, either generic or specific, which has the priority in point of date. In the first edition, the first volume appeared without specific names, which were at that time a novelty but recently introduced by Linnæus. In the second volume, however, an appendix was given, containing specific names both of the first and second volumes, and a similar appendix was given at the end of the third volume; but no specific names appeared in the body of the work. To many of the names contained in the appendices Fabricius referred, many he entirely omitted, and for many he substituted others. These last I have of course rejected; and have in many instances given the dates when the names were first imposed by the different authors--a plan which would be very serviceable if generally adopted. I have, likewise, made a point in many cases of restoring the specific _proper_ names, where, in consequence of a change in the sex of the generic name, a corresponding change had been made in such specific name. This alteration had been carried to a great extent in the Encyclopédie Méthodique; and many male and female _proper_ names had been completely altered, in order to suit them to the sex of the new genera in which they were placed. This was, however, an error on the wrong side; because it is admitted as an established principle, that if it should be thought necessary to subdivide a genus, the names of the subdivisions should be of the sex of the original generic name. The plan upon which the first edition of this work was published may be seen from the following specimen, which is one of the shortest given, but which will be sufficient to shew not only the style of the former edition, but also the manner in which I have treated the subject and the additions which I have introduced. {vi}Vol. I. Plate II. Fig. III.--Expands about three inches. _Upper Side._--The antennæ are black. The head, thorax, and abdomen brown. All the wings (the edges of which are even not dentated) are of a deep brown, with a shade of clay colour, rising near the anterior edges of the superior ones, runs along near the tips and ends at the external edges. _Under Side._--The eyes are black, the palpi yellow. All the wings are the same brown colour as the upper side, with the clay-coloured shade near the tips as on that. The superior wings have five whitish spots on each placed on a row near the external edges, the inferior ones have on each sometimes five and sometimes seven spots of the same colour placed in a circular row, that meets near the extremity of the body. I received it from China. I cannot find it any where described. Fig. III.--Il deploye ses aîles environ trois pouces.