science

Lepidoptera Indica

Lepidoptera Indica is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lepidoptera Indica rather than just read about it. In short: Lepidoptera Indica was a 10 volume work on the butterflies of the Indian region that was begun in 1890 and completed in 1913. It was published by Lovell Reeve and Co. of London.

Key takeaways

Lepidoptera Indica belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lepidoptera Indica to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lepidoptera Indica from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lepidoptera Indica was a 10 volume work on the butterflies of the Indian region that was begun in 1890 and completed in 1913. It was published by Lovell Reeve and Co. of London. It has been considered the magnum opus of its author, Frederic Moore, assistant curator at the museum of the East India Company. Frederic Moore described a number of new species through this publication. Moore was a splitter, known for careless creation of synonyms, sometimes placing the same species in more than one genus.

History

The series was based on a large collection of butterflies that were under the care of the curator of the Asiatic Museum, Dr Thomas Horsfield. The museum was closed in 1879 and the collection was transferred to the British Museum. Moore in his preface defined the Indian region as being roughly bounded by the Himalayan mountains in the north, Suleiman and Hala mountains in the northwest, Ceylon to the South and Burma in the East and including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Moore however died before the work could be completed and the work was then taken over by Colonel Charles Swinhoe, brother of Robert Swinhoe and one of the founders of the Bombay Natural History Society. The butterfly collections that were described in this work, many of which were previously undescribed had been made by additions from numerous correspondents and collectors in the Civil and Military services from across India. The first catalogue of these collections was prepared by Arthur Grote in 1857-1859. Grote also took notes on the life histories, making use of a Munshi Zynulabdin, a local artist. Moore also noted the contributions of Sir Walter Elliot from the Madras region, S. Nevill(e) Ward for notes from the Malabar coast, W. S. Atkinson, A.E. Russell, Colonel A.M. Lang (Oudh, Kashmir, Simla), Captain T. Hutton (Mussoorie), Captain H. L. de la Chaumette (Lucknow), C. Horne, Dr Francis Day, W. Forsyth Hunter, Major J. Le Mesurier, Major-Gen. G. Ramsay, Lt.-Col. H H G Godwin-Austin (sic), Captain R. Bayne Reed, W. B Farr, G. H. Wilkinson, Dr. A. Leith, Dr. J. Shortt, Capt. H. B. Hellard, W C Hewitson for material from the Atkinson collection, J. O Westwood for material collected by R. Hunter at Saugor, J. Anderson, James Wood-Mason, Rev. J. H. Hocking (Dharamsala), Mrs. F. A. de Roepstorff (for collections from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands made by her husband who was killed in 1883), A. Lindsay, G.A.J. Rothney, Colonel C. Swinhoe, Major J.W. Yerbury, Lionel de Niceville, H J Elwes, Hon. L. W. de Rothschild, G F Hampson (Nilgiris). Moore also thanks W F Kirby and A G Butler of the British Museum for nomenclature and bibliographic help. He also thanks private collectors including W L Distant, Godman and Salvin, H. Druce, Henley Grose-Smith and J.J. Weir, J H Leech and P. Crowley.

The delineation and lithography for the first few volumes was done mainly by Moore's son F. C. Moore but later made use of other artists including John Nugent Fitch and E. C. Knight.

Volumes

Volume 1 (1890–1892) Nymphalidae (Euploeinae and Satyrinae) Volume 2 (1893–1896) Nymphalidae (Elymniinae, Amathusiinae, Nymphalinae) Volume 3 (1896–1899) Nymphalidae (Nymphalinae continued) Volume 4 (1899–1900) Nymphalide (Nymphalinae continued) Volume 5 (1901–1903) Nymphalidae, Riodinidae, Papilionidae Volume 6 (1903–1905) Family Papilionidae & Pieridae Moore died in 1907 and from volume 7, the work was taken over by Colonel Charles Swinhoe

Volume 7 (1905–1910) Subfamily Pierinae & Lycaenidae By the 8th volume, there were photographs of the genitalia of some species.

Volume 8 (1910–1911) Lycaenidae Volume 9 (1911–1912) Lycaenidae (continued), Hesperiidae Volume 10 (1912–1913) Hesperiidae

Commentaries and analyses Moore was a splitter and did not follow the concept of subspecies for polytypic forms. Moore often created multiple genera for members of the same species, often in the same volume, leading to difficulties for early taxonomists to establish priority. The treatment was much improved after Swinhoe took over. James Cecil Mottram and his colleagues analyzed the statistical distributions of the extent and colours of butterflies, making use of the plates from Lepidoptera Indica.

References

External links

Lepidoptera Indica. Scanned volumes at Internet Archive 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lepidoptera Indica scanned volumes from Biodiversity Heritage Library

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lepidoptera Indica

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lepidoptera Indica claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lepidoptera Indica before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lepidoptera Indica ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lepidoptera Indica

In research: Lepidoptera Indica appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lepidoptera Indica in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lepidoptera Indica is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lepidoptera of Asia, Zoology books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lepidoptera Indica outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lepidoptera Indica in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lepidoptera Indica means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lepidoptera Indica out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lepidoptera Indica in simple terms?

Lepidoptera Indica was a 10 volume work on the butterflies of the Indian region that was begun in 1890 and completed in 1913. It was published by Lovell Reeve and Co. of London.

Why does Lepidoptera Indica matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lepidoptera Indica?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lepidoptera Indica.