Butterflies in Thailand. Vol. 4. Lucaniedae - Kurian E.J.

Thailand, Viratham Press, 1981, 216 pp. in full color, 19 x 26.5 cm, hard cover, good condition

This fourth volume of BUTTERFLIES IN THAILAND, which presents the Lycaenidae family has been long in preparation. At last, the work is now finished, I cannot say, to my complete satisfaction, but at least, to my greart relief.

The main reason for a somewhat subdued feeling of satisfaction is the layout of the pictures: Some species of the same genus are new distributed in different plates. This was occasioned by the revision of Thai Butterflies effected during the course of the printing by the kind assistance of J.N. Eliot. Although the assistance was more than welcome, and I gratefully made use of it in the notes, it was too late for me to make the necessary changes in* the plates in time. My apologies to the readers for the inconvenience this may cause.

This volume, more than the previous ones in the Series taxed the efforts of all those who had to do with it not only because Lycaenidae is a family prolific in the number of its species and hence entailed more than the normal amount of work, but also because of the unusual amount of technical work involved in photographing, colour separation and accurate printing. Eventhough I cannot assure the readers that through all these phases the task was superbly accomplished, I can confidently state these pictures in the hands of amateur collectors and students, are an aid to identification of the species and sub-species of the family and with the appended notes should go a long way in filling the need of a guide to the study of the family in Thailand. This was my main goal in deciding to publish this book and now, as far as Lycaenidae is concerned the job is accomplished — hence the relief.

I am happy to acknowledge the assistance of several friends who have helped to make this volume better than it should have been without their help. First and foremost among them, I would like to thank J.N. Eliot, an expert in the field of Lepidoptera and an author of several books and innumerable articles on the subject.

I thank him for the identification of many species in the collection, here, at St. Grabriel's College, Bangkok, for the same work he did with specimens at the Entomological Museum of the Ministry of Agriculture which benefited me indirectly, for having gone through the text as well as the plates, which enabled me to make many corrections, for his kind permission to reproduce in this book the diagrams on venation that first appeared in the book he revised and edited, BUTTERFLIES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA by Corbet and Pendylburry and also for kindly writing a preface to this volume on the Zoological Zones. His painstaking effort to see that this book be published by us in Thailand and become an authentic guide to collectors and students will always be appreciated. After having said so much with great feeling for the person and his work, I hasten to add that the errors that might still be found in this volume are entirely mine and J.N. Eliot is not even remotely responsible for them.