ECONOMIC EXTOMOLOGY IN MOCAMBIQUE. 289 



Examples like this could be multiplied indefinitely as apply- 

 ing to nearly every one of the main crops. 



Another great group of important insects which has not been 

 studied to any extent anywhere in South Africa is the forest 

 insects. This Province can boast of the possession of magni- 

 ficent forests containing very valuable species of timber — a source 

 oi wealth which is, as yet, only very superficially explored. The 

 conservation of these ' forests and their scientific and economic 

 exploitation certainly deserve to be made a matter of prime 

 consideration by the Government, and the control of insects wili 

 play an important part in the ultimate value of these resources 

 of the country. Already complaints have reached us from the 

 few places where timber is being cut and utilised of the damage 

 done by insects to the standing or recently-felled trees. Furni- 

 ture made of native wood is in danger of obtaining an unenviable 

 reputation for its being prone to insect attack. These forest 

 insects are for the greater part as yet unknown to us, while the 

 role played by the seed-eating insects, in affecting the health of 

 the native forests or their increase, or in preventing the natural 

 re-afforestation, is an interesting and all-important one. The 

 experience of other countries has taught us that the investiga- 

 tions on these matters have, as a rule, come a few generations too 

 late : let us not make the same mistake. 



I have not touched on the subjects of sanitary, medical or 

 veterinary entomology, but enough has been suggested to show 

 that the task of tlie economic entomologist in this Province is a 

 formidable one, calling for the services of not one, but several, 

 trained observers and investigators, if we wish to be in time t) 

 prevent incalculable damage and to assure the agriculture of this 

 Province that degree of prosperity to which its conditions of 

 climate and soil entitle it. 



The Methods to be Employed. 



What methods shall we employ to deal niost effectively with 

 tliese various problems? First of all, it behoves us to take stock 

 of the enemies arrayed against us, and of the auxiliaries which 

 Nature has already put at our disposal in the way of parasites 

 and predaceous enemies of these. Tliis tneans a thorough entomo- 

 logical survey of our territories, to be undertaken conjointly with 

 a botanical survey. By knowing the insects at present affecting- 

 native vegetation and their food -plants we can more or less 

 predict which insects will be troublesome when these native food- 

 plants are being destroyed to make room for crops consisting of 

 plants belonging to the same or nearly allied families. Such a 

 survey will be not merely of a scientific interest, but of the 

 greatest practical value, for we may thus be able to prevent 

 damage instead of being called upon to give remedies for its 

 control after a great deal of injury has been done. 



Our next step is the investigation of the life-history of these 

 insects. Professor Osborne, one of our foremost American ento- 



