1916] Entomology in the British Empire 7 



Ireland. Prof. G. H. Carpenter of the Royal College of 

 Science, Dublin, acts as Entomologist to the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction of Ireland and publishes 

 an annual report on economic entomology in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Dublin Society. Prof. Carpenter's investigatory 

 work during a number of years has been confined chiefly to the 

 study of the Warble Flies, Hypoderma bovis and H. Imeata. 



Africa. 



On no other continent in the world has the struggle 

 between insect and man been so acute as on this immense area 

 containing tropical and sub-tropical conditions, and nowhere 

 has the insect been so victorious or so securely entrenched in 

 regions offering every advantage to it and every obstacle to man. 

 The mosquito has held the key to some of the richest regions 

 of the earth's surface, the Tsetse fly has rendered extensive 

 transportation impossible, and the tick, if one may be permitted 

 to use entomology in its broad sense and include ticks, has 

 kept the white man at bay and devastated his herds. But by 

 slow degrees the power is passing from insect to man and 

 nowhere is the conquest of such an adverse and powerful force 

 of nature by patient effort illustrated more strikingly than in 

 the gradual conquest, in the real sense, of Africa. The West 

 Coast is no longer a "White man's grave," as it was formerly 

 called, nagana and tick fevers are losing their original terrors 

 and we should be unworthy of our traditions did we believe 

 that sleeping sickness would always remain the scourge that 

 experience has demonstrated it to be within recent years. 



The British territories in Africa are so situated that it has 

 fallen to the lot of our investigators to contribute largely to 

 this notable conquest, the history of which would constitute 

 one of the finest examples of entomological achievement that 

 we have. But to attempt to outline such a history would exceed 

 the limits which must necessarily be set to this account of the 

 manner in which the work is being carried on at the present 

 time. 



The Union of South Africa. Prior to the formation of the 

 Union of South Africa the four colonies, Cape Colony, Natal, 

 Transvaal and the Orange Free State, carried on their ento- 

 mological work independently. Cape Colony which created a 

 Division of Entomology with Mr. C. P. Lounsbury as Chief in 

 1895, was the most advanced. Following the union, Mr. 



