INSECTS has attracted the most general attention and has been the most widely observed, 50 of the 68 British species having been recorded. The census for the nine groups into which the order has been divided in Mr. Meyrick's Handbook of British Lepidoptera stands at present as under : Recorded British for Species Herts Caradrinina 378 221 Notodontina 326 Lasiocampina 18 Papilionina 68 Pyralidina 187 Psychina 16 Tortricina 330 Tineina 720 Micropterygina 18 229 15 50 87 6 171 344 15 Totals .... 2,061 . . . 1,138 The order of proportionate representation, based upon these figures, is therefore as follows : Lasiocampina and Micropterygina (both of which are represented by 15 out of 18 British species), Papilionina, Notodontina^ Caradrinina, Tortricina, Tineina, Pyralidina, and Psychina. It must, how- ever, be remembered that the smaller moths have received comparatively little attention, and that so far as they are concerned a large part of the county remains unexplored. Future investigations may, therefore, res-ult in a re-arrangement of the above order. In March, 1878, the Rev. C. M. Perkins, M.A., then head master of the St. Albans Grammar School, read a paper before the members of the Watford Natural History Society on ' British Butterflies,' 1 treating especially of the species which had been taken in the county. With the exception of Stephens' records this appears to have been the first important contribution to our knowledge of the insect fauna of Hertfordshire. The earliest recent attempt to compile anything like an exhaustive local list was, however, made in the winter of 18834 by Mr. Arthur Griffith, M.A., and in it he recorded the results of the observations and captures made by himself and his brother, Mr. F. LI. Griffith. This list was published in the 'Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society? Mr. Arthur Griffith and his brother are sons of the late Rev. John Griffith, LL.D., at that time vicar of Sandridge, and their collecting was done principally, though not wholly, in their father's parish, and extended over a district about six miles long and two miles wide. They succeeded in compiling a list of 514 species, 29 of which were butter- flies. By the end of 1890" this total had been increased to 832 species, including 266 Tineina, which group had not been dealt with in the earlier paper. This very considerable total for so comparatively re- stricted an area must be regarded as very creditable. Besides a large number of the Micro-Lepidoptera, the following insects have been re- 1 Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Six., vol. ii. p. 63. * Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soe., vol. iii. p. 58. 3 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 47. Ill
