( lxxvii ) 



should be first concentrated. South America, the greater 

 part of Africa, China, and the larger mountain ranges of the 

 world will be probably the same in a hundred years time as 

 they are at present, but it is quite different in respect to 

 islands and archipelagoes : the introduction of a pair of goats 

 to an island may cause a revolution in its fauna, with the 

 extinction of many most valuable forms ; and the felling of 

 forests in islands inflicts a fearful loss on the naturalist. 



Thus, if we were to limit our efforts in the first instance to 

 some selected spots, such as the smaller islands, the Gala- 

 pagos, Sandwich, Fiji, Philippine, and West Indian archi- 

 pelagoes, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Madagascar, we 

 should probably, in the interests of the science of the future, 

 be doing a wise thing ; and it is most desirable that when 

 the investigation of any of these spots is attempted it should 

 be done thoroughly and exhaustively. This can only be 

 accomplished by prolonged attention to special branches : 

 thus I feel myself quite incredulous as to our being really 

 acquainted with the beetles of the Galapagos, and I shall 

 never be able to overcome my incredulity until a good 

 collector of Coleoptera has spent a year there and the results 

 are known. I think it is a public duty, due not only to the 

 world at large, but to posterity, that we should investigate 

 thoroughly the Natural History of the countries we have 

 taken possession of; and I have no doubt, if we do so, future 

 generations will be deeply indebted to us. If we neglect it 

 they will say: "Those nineteenth century people destroyed 

 the forests of many parts of the world in their haste to get 

 wealth that they did not know how to use when they had 

 acquired it, and the fauna of the globe became dreadfully 

 impoverished, while scientific men were gravely discussing 

 problems, the data for whose solution were not in their 

 possession." 



My remarks have referred chiefly to the acquisition of 

 foreign insects and absolutely new species, but I must say a 

 little about collections of British and European insects, for 

 these also are very imperfect. There is no collection, so far 

 as I am aware, of British insects that would enable any one 

 to get really trustworthy and exhaustive information as to 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., V., 1887. K 



