PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 127 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



The Past and Present State of Entomological 

 Research in South Africa. 



If YOU will permit me, ladies and gentlemen, I will 

 proceed with the Presidential Address, which it is cus- 

 tomary to give at an Annual General Meeting such as 

 this, and which is as a rule a short paper on a subject 

 with w^hich the office-bearer is more or less familiar. 



It is now twenty years all but two months since I em- 

 barked upon the study of the insect-fauna of South 

 Africa, and it is only natural that I should select an 

 entomological subject. The subject is extensive if treated 

 in detail, a task which is beyond me, and which would 

 require a long preparation. I therefore intend to treat 

 it in broad outlines only, but fully enough to show what 

 has been done and, still better, I hope, what remains to 

 be done. 



Very few students nowadays attempt to deal with 

 all the Orders of Insects of a country so extensive 

 as South Africa. It may, therefore, be anticipated that 

 I will not be able to name an entomologist who has even 

 attempted to classify and study our insects of all orders 

 and who has succeeded in laying the results of his labour 

 before the public. It is true, on the other hand, that S. 

 African Entomology' owes much to the collector of in- 

 sects of all orders, but in most cases earnest study is 

 only done by the specialist. It will thus be necessary to 

 deal with the orders separately and briefly, amplifying 

 only the order I am mainly interested in. 



Beginning at the lowest order, the Thysanura, of which 

 the spring-tails and silverfish or bristle-tails are best 

 known. Very little is published on this group in any 

 country, and I do not know of anyone who ha|^;^i^^B-^ 

 tention to the S. African fauna. /^^ - w\ 



Lu L! B R A R Y— 3 



