INTRODUCTION 



'The evaporating power of the air may be the primary factor 

 upon which the organisation of the entire terrestrial fauna 

 depends.' 



R. HESSE, W. C. ALLEE and K. P. SCHMIDT 



The Arthropoda is the dominant phylum of the Invertebrates. In 

 the oceans, minute crustaceans comprise the major component of 

 the zooplankton upon which the food chains of the whales and 

 larger fishes are based: on land the medical, economic and bio- 

 logical importance of insects and mites especially, can scarcely be 

 over-stressed. These may be very cogent reasons for their in- 

 vestigation, but they are not the most important. The little creatures 

 are interesting in their own right, and research into the details of 

 their lives provides mental exercise that is a source of unending 

 pleasure and interest. 



Questions are sometimes asked as to the use of academic re- 

 search. The answer may be that it lies in man's nature to explore 

 the secrets of the universe, for comparatively few intellectual and . 

 aesthetic pursuits are motivated by purely practical considerations. 

 Scott did not go to the South Pole in search of coal, nor did Beet- 

 hoven write his string quartets for economic reasons. The best 

 excuse for climbing Mount Everest may have been to get to the 

 top, or simply because it was there. Perhaps the last word on the 

 subject was written by J. S. Bach. 'The aim and final reason of all 

 music is the glory of God and the recreation of the mind.' And so 

 for all the arts and sciences ! 



Many excellent books have recently been written about insects 

 and of all the terrestrial Arthropoda they are the most catholic. 

 Over 600,000 species are known to science and the total number in 

 existence probably exceeds a million. There are more species of 

 beetles in the world than of all other animals put together. One of 

 these, Niptus hololeucus can live on cayenne pepper and thrive on 

 sal ammoniac. This species has been known to live in the corks of 



