164 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol XV. 



Insects which will, I believe, prove useful to the student of Insect Life 

 in the Indian Forest. The examples and life-histories quoted were 

 more exclusively confined to Forest Insects. 



The question of writing another series of papers dealing with this 

 subject from a more general point of view had occurred to me, but 

 I had thought of bringing out the material I had collected for the purpose 

 in the form of a small book. The Honorary Secretary's request, asking 

 for permission to reproduce the Indian Forester articles in this Journal, 

 has led to the papers appearing here. Being the first series of illustrated 

 papers dealing systematically with the subject of Indian Economic 

 Entomology to appear, it is hoped that they may prove of service both to 

 those interested in agricultural pursuits as well as to the collector, and 

 he who would spend some pleasant hours in the study of some of 

 Nature's most beautiful forms of life — a life scattered in such careless 

 and bounteous profusion o'er the face of the earth. 



For my illustrations of life-histories I shall endeavour to confine 

 myself almost entirely to Insects of the Indian Region, whether of 

 importance in the field, orchard, or forest, or the tea, coffee, and indigo 

 concerns, &c, of the country. The forest pests will not of course be 

 dealt with at the same length as in the forest series. Each of 

 the Orders will be taken in turn, its characteristics considered, and 

 the families containing species of Insects of economic importance dealt 

 with as fully as is at present possible. Insects which are known to be 

 or are considered likely to prove injurious will be alluded to at some 

 length. Where possible remedies will be suggested. 



But whilst thus endeavouring to help the novice the writer hns 

 another object in view, and that is to draw attention to and lay stress upon 

 the various Families which his own experience has shown — we should 

 perhaps say is showing — are likely to be of paramount importance in this 

 country ; until recently the information about them has been so meagre that 

 it has been usual in European text-books to either make no reference to 

 them at all, or merely a passing allusion to the fact that they are, relative 

 to other better-known families, of small importance. Whilst this proce- 

 dure is, of course, quite correct where the European student, who spends 

 his life in Europe, is concerned, the case is rather different when the man 

 so taught comes out to India and endeavours to apply his knowledge to 

 the conditions around him in this country. He soon finds that the relative 

 importance of many of the families he has studied must be re-arranged 

 in his mind : those he has only touched upon or merely heard of must be 



