Charles Thomas Bingham

“ Looking at the clouds of butterflies swarming on the sands at our feet, and flitting around us, he remarked:—"What wouldn't I give to have —— [mentioning a mutual friend of ours at home—the very Nestor among lepidopterists] out here; he would enjoy it so."
To so ardent a naturalist it was a labour of love to amass a vast collection, and to tend it with unremitting care. ”

“ The Lepidoptera or scaled-wing insects comprise the Butterflies and Moths of popular Entomology. These, under the respective names of Rhopalocera and Heterocera, in allusion to the difference in the form of the antennæ, were regarded as suborders. Of late years, however, it has been recognized that not only are the distinctions between the divisions, as above indicated, not sharply defined, but that differences exist among the groups of the Heterocera quite as, if not more, important than between the two Suborders. ”

“ Heron has aided me in every possible way, and his intimate knowledge of many groups of butterflies has been most kindly and unreservedly placed at my service.
The National Collection has of late years been greatly increased and enriched by the donations of the Godinan, Leech, Crowley, and Elwes collections; and it is fortunate that so well-known an authority on Lepidoptera as Mr. Elwes should have undertaken the re-arrangement of the vast material thus brought together. ”

“ Throughout the family the front pair of legs in the ♂, and with three exceptions [1] in the ♀ also, is reduced in size and functionally impotent; in some the atrophy of the fore legs is considerable, e.g. Danainæ and Satyrinæ. In many of the forms of these subfamilies the fore legs are kept pressed against the underside of the thorax, and are in the male often very inconspicuous.
The Indian forms belonging to the Nymphalidæ can be conveniently be arranged under six subfamilies, a key to which is given below.
Key to the Indian Subfamilies of the Nymphalidæ. ”

“ His unrivalled knowledge, gained not only by a study of the literature of the subject, but by years of practical work and collecting in the field, he embodied in his well-known book, "The Butterflies of India, Burma, and Ceylon," which unfortunately he has not lived to finish. Numerous papers, however, in scientific journals testify to his industry and knowledge of Eastern butterflies. It is greatly to be regretted that only three volumes of 'The Butterflies' have been published. ”

“ Preface Introduction Systematic Index (Note: see here for further contents.) Alphabetical Index Plate I Plate II Plate III Plate IV Plate V Plate VI Plate VII Plate VIII Plate IX Plate X
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. ”

“ In very many forms they are grooved on the underside [4] .
Thorax.—The appendages, the wings (figs. 5-10) and the legs (fig. 11) , are of the utmost importance in classification.
Wings. These are membranous, traversed from the base outwards by nervures (“tubular structures which serve at once as extensions of the tracheal system and to form a stiff framework for the support of the wing”) . In the vast majority of the butterflies they are covered on both upper and under sides with flat scales arranged in rows, and often brightly coloured. ”

“ To figure animals so brilliantly variegated as Butterflies by black and white alone would have given a very poor idea of their colour, whilst at the same time the expense of procuring coloured representations of their forms would have greatly exceeded the price of the volume. ”

“ It is true that in the present state of our knowledge it is often a matter of conjecture as to which is the typical form and which the race, but in my opinion it is of great importance to draw attention to the extremely close relationship existing between many forms, so as to facilitate the tracing-out of the connection between them. ”

“ All Lepidopterous insects undergo a great and, to all appearance, an abrupt metamorphosis. In their life-cycle there are four stages:—
(1) The egg, which is round or oval, sometimes elongate, often flattened, and very frequently beautifully sculptured on the outside.
(2) The larva or caterpillar (fig. 1, I.) , generally cylindrical, with or without a clothing of hair, often provided with protective tubercles, spines, or special fleshy filamentous processes. ”

“ The evidence of one family group of the butterflies being derived from another is entirely inconclusive. Specialization of forms has followed often parallel lines in all the families, but similar specialization, when it occurs in different groups, is no proof of genetic descent, but of independent development along similar lines.
The tendency in modern Systematic Natural History is to greater subdivision and the multiplication of genera. ”

“ Had my late friend lived, the compilation of the present work would never have been attempted by me; it would have been in his far abler hands. As it is, it will be good news to many that the Trustees of the Indian Museum acquired the MSS. of the volumes on the Papilionidæ, Pieridæ and Hesperiidæ left partially incompleted at Mr. de Nicéville’s death. These MSS. have been generously placed at my disposal for use in the compilation of the future volumes of this work.
In connection with this, I ought to add that the unique collection of Indo-Malayan Lepidoptera brought together by the late Mr. ”

“ The forms in this subfamily are highly specialized, for in addition to the reduction in the number of legs used in walking common to all the members of the family Nymphalidæ, the Danainæ have without exception developed what to our senses, at any rate, is an acrid disagreeable odour and taste accompanied with a though leathery constituency of body that to a certain extent evidently protects them from insectivorous enemies. ”

“ Page Order LEPIDOPTERA 1 Suborder Papilionina 1 Fam. 1. Nymphalidæ 1 Subfam. 1. Danainæ 2 1. Hestia, Hübner 3 1. malabarica, Moore 4 2. linteata, Butler 4 3. jasonia, Westw 5 4. agamarschana, Felder 5 5. ”

“ Neorina, Westw. 167 1. westwoodi, Moore 168 2. hilda, Westw. 168 25. Elymnias, Hübner 169 1. undularis, Drury 171 2. cottonis, Hewitson 173 3. caudata, Butler 173 4. singhala, Moore 174 5. peali, Wood-Mason 175 6. malelas, Hewitson 175 7. timandra, Wallace 177 8. patna, Westwood 177 9. dara, Distant 178 10. mimus, Wood-Mason 178 11. vasudeva, Moore 178 12. esaca, Westwood 179 13. penanga, Westwood 180 Subfam. 3. Morphinæ 181 1. Clerome, Westwood 182 1. arcesilaus, Fabr. 183 2. ”

“ Discophora, Boisduval 199 1. celinde, Stoll 200 2. lepida, Moore 201 3. tullia, Cramer 202 Subfam. 4. Nymphalinæ 203 1. Charaxes, Ochsenheimer 208 1. dunfordi, Distant 210 2. distanti, Honrath 210 3. marmax, Westwood 211 4. ”

“ Calinaga, Moore 465 1. buddha, Moore 466 2. sudassana, Melvill 467 Subfam. 5. Acræinæ 468 1. Pareba, Doubleday 468 1. vesta, Fabr. 469 2. Telchinia, Hübner 470 1. violæ, Fabr. 471 Subfam. 6. Libytheinæ 472 1. Libythea, Fabr. ”