Page:Life-histories of Indian insects - Microlepidoptera - T. Bainbrigge Fletcher.djvu/11

 == PREFACE ==

The term "Microlepidoptera" is commonly and loosely applied to the (usually small) moths belonging to the groups Pterophorina, Tortricina, Tineina and Micropterygina. Strictly speaking, many comparatively large moths of the families Cossidæ, Ægeriadæ, Hepialidæ, etc., should be included amongst the "Micros," numerous species of which, by the way, are considerably larger than many Macros, but, as Mr. Meyrick has recently remarked, some families of the true Microlepidoptera are commonly appropriated by the collectors of the larger Lepidoptera without any justification. For the purpose of these papers the term Microlepidoptera is taken to include those families which are not included in the volumes on Moths in the Fauna of British India series.

It is only within the last fifteen years that any serious attempt has been made to acquire a knowledge of the Microlepidoptera of the Indian Region. In 1889, at the time of the publication of Cotes' and Swinhoe's Catalogue of the Moths of India, only 225 species of Microlepidoptera were enumerated and this number included several synonyms and species which are not true "Micros." At the present time 2,422 species, contain.ed in about 458 genera, have been recorded and we are still only beginning to learn what forms actually exist within the Indian Empire, in. which enormous areas are still absolutely unknown so far as concerns their microlepidopterous fauna.

Our knowledge of the early stages of these little moths is still more incomplete, although numerous species are of considerable importance as pests of crops or of household or stored products. The Pink Bollworm {Platyedra gossypiella) and the Potato Moth (Phthorimæa operculella), for example, do damage which totals