130 SOUTH AFRICAN BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



their classification and biolos^j. It is the student resi- 

 dent in S. Africa who can do the most valuable work in 

 this order, in view of the diflficulties in preserving the 

 pre-adult stages. Perhaps no other order has so many 

 crop-destroying species, and it requires to be studied 

 from the economic standpoint. There is room for the 

 life-work of half a dozen energetic entomologists. 



Small orders like the Mecoptera (scorpion flies) and the 

 TricopUra (caddisflies) have not found favour in the 

 eyes of S. African entomologists, nor has much been pub- 

 lished, as far as I know, in other countries, on our 

 species. 



Coleoptrra (beetles). We now come to a very exten- 

 sive group, the Coleoptera. It is difficult for me to give, 

 at the ])resent moment, an estimate of the number of 

 species of beetles in this country, but it must certainly 

 be somewhere near 20,000, if not mor^. These are insects 

 easily collected and preserved, and, possibly, on this ac- 

 count the order has received considerable attention. 

 Coleoptera are as remiarkable for their shape as Lepi- 

 doptera are for their colour, and, very often, both these 

 attractive qualities are united in beetles. The enumera- 

 tion of the names of those who have endeavoured to 

 bring into order the vast army of beetles would make a 

 lengthy list, therefore I will but mention a few who 

 have done rather prominent work. Boheman was per- 

 haps the first systematist to catalogue S. African beetles 

 in his classification of Wahlberg's collection (1848-57). 

 After Boheman's time few worked at the whole order, 

 and probably the only entomologist who has published 

 extensively on the various families of Coleoptera is Dr. L. 

 I*eringuey. It is to be regretted that this able authority 

 is no longer in a position to continue his valuable series 

 of monographs. His descriptive catalogues of the Cicin- 

 drlidne, CaraVidae, and ^caruhaeidae will remain for 

 many a day our standard references. The work on Pan- 

 sidae and Pselapliidac by Dr. Peringuey and A. Batfray 

 are exami)les of what we require in the way of descrip- 



