1916] Entomology in the British Empire 3 



The countries that enjoy the benefits of British forms of 

 government comprise territories from equatorial to arctic and 

 antarctic latitudes; they include some of the most worthless and 

 barren regions of the world's surface and some of the richest 

 and most fertile. Consequently we find every type of vegeta- 

 tion, every kind of crop and every form of insect life to which 

 such vegetation or crop may serve as sustenance. In addition 

 there are few types of insect-borne disease that are not found 

 somewhere within British domains. It will not be possible, 

 therefore, to do more than briefly touch upon the more out- 

 standing features of the work that is being carried on in those 

 countries by an ever increasing body of highly trained and 

 enthusiastic workers. And here I would remind you that it is 

 one of the chief characteristics of the British entomologist 

 that he usually follows his profession on account of his enthus- 

 iasm for the subject, and in spite of the remuneration that he 

 receives and the natural difficulties with which he has to 

 contend. 



British Isles. 

 The Imperial Bureau of Entomology. — The formation of the 

 Imperial Bureau of Entomology in 1913 was the outcome of an 

 effort made a few years earlier to further entomological investi- 

 gations in the British possessions in tropical Africa. Early 

 in 1909 Dr. A. E. Shipley, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, 

 drew up a memorandum, with some slight assistance from me, 

 for the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Crewe, and as a 

 result of this a meeting was called in March, 1909, to discuss 

 the formation of an entomological research committee for the 

 stuty of entomological problems, particularly those relating 

 to tropical diseases, in tropical Africa. Such a committee was 

 formed that year and it included the chief experts in entomology 

 and tropical medicine in Great Britain and Ireland, with Lord 

 Cromer as Chairman. Its work fell under three divisions, 

 namely, the carrying on of investigations and entomological 

 surveys in tropical Africa, for the purpose of which two travelling 

 entomologists, Mr. S. A. Neave and Dr. J. J. Simpson, to whose 

 work reference will be made later, were employed ; the determi- 

 nation of entomological material, and the publication of the 

 work so accomplished, for which purpose the Bulletin of Ento- 

 mological Research was started as a quarterly journal. 



