PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 135 



A checklist of the S. African Heterocera and various 

 papers on some of the families of moths have been pre- 

 pared by myself, and I hope to bring before the Society 

 a rather extensive paper on the Notodontidae in a few 

 months time. 



As regards local collections of S. African moths, my 

 own is perhaps the most extensive, containing some- 

 where about 50,000 specimens. The Transvaal Museum 

 has also rich material waiting for future study. The S. 

 African Museum has a very representative collection^ 

 especially of the earliest described species of the Cape. 

 In the other Museums moths are rather poorly repre- 

 sented, both as regards quality and quantity, and it is 

 very necessary that these institutions should be given 

 more facilities to obtain first-class representative collec- 

 tions. Several admirable private collections exist in 

 w^hich moths are well represented, but the lack of a re- 

 liable monograph seriously hampers their study by the 

 w^orkers they belong to. 



A few words as regards the life-histories of the Hetero- 

 cera may not be out of place. The larvae of less than one 

 per centum of the species are known, and still fewer 

 have had any scientific studv. A few years ago Mr. C. B. 

 Hardenberg took up the study of lepidopterous larvae, 

 and one trusts he will soon, find more leisure to devote 

 to this most important matter. 



In connection with the scientific stud^^ of life-histories 

 of larvae, several members of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment should be mentioned, and also Mr. E. E, Piatt, who 

 has done a large amount of caterpillar breeding, not so 

 much for specimens as for information. 



The Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps). Although the 

 Hymenoptera demand as full a treatment as that given 

 for the Lepidoptera, I will deal with it but briefly. Per- 

 haps no order of insects is so full of interest as is this^ 

 but it requires a Hymenopterist to deal adequately w^ith 

 the order. I w^ill, therefore, mention but the names of 

 some of those S. African entomologists who have par- 



