(v) 



Entomologist, 

 To the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Sir, 



I have the honour to submit, herewith, a manuscript 

 with illustrations, which I have prepared for publication as 

 a Handbook of Insect Pests of the Lesser Antilles. This 

 might be included in the Pamphlet Series of the publica- 

 tions of this Department. 



2. The object of this book is to present, in plain and 

 simple language, a brief general account of our present 

 knowledge of some of the principal insect and mite pests of 

 the crops grown in the Lesser Antilles; also of the pests 

 attacking man and domestic animals, as well as of those 

 of the household. 



3. It would not be possible, within the scope of a small 

 work, to include an account of all the insects which are 

 known to attack plants in the West Indies, nor to give 

 detailed accounts even of the more important ones without 

 greatly exceeding the limits of such a volume as this. 



4. I can make no claim for originality in connexion 

 with the information presented herewith, although much of 

 what is here given has already appeared in articles prepared 

 by me for publication in the Agricultural News, the West 

 Indian Bulletin and the Pamphlet Series ; and in so far as 

 i hese articles have referred to work done by me under the 

 direction of the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, they 

 were records of original work. This last is especially true of 

 certain pests which have appeared in these islands during the 

 past nine years, as new pests unknown in other localities. 



5. The recorded knowledge of many of the forms of 

 insect life which are of common occurrence in many parts 

 of the world, is distributed throughout entomological publi- 

 cations, such as text-books and the publications of Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture and of Experiment Stations. A 

 considerable amount of such general knowledge has, of 

 course, been utilized in the preparation of this work, a certain 

 amount of it having been verified by observation and 

 experiment. 



