Ernst Hofmann, curator of the royal natural history collection in Stuttgart, compiles detailed information on the caterpillars of the large butterflies of Europe in this volume. He divides his work into three sections. The first part mainly deals with general explanations of breeding and also includes detailed knowledge about the biology of caterpillars and butterflies. Following this is an extensive, clearly structured section with precise descriptions of the caterpillars of European day and night butterflies. The third part consists of 50 plates with 1,900 illustrations. The Verlag der Wissenschaften publishes historical literature by both well-known and lesser-known scientific authors, making works that have long been out of print accessible to interested readers. This book is a reprint of the original edition from 1893.