PEEFACE. 



In submitting a book on a branch of Natural Science which 

 has required any degree of research during its preparation, or 

 which otherwise is intended as a guide for research, perhaps 

 no one realises its shortcomings more than the writer. At 

 least this is certainly the feeling of the author on the present 

 occasion. 



The book was begun in a very humble way. Having 

 always had a strong inclination for Natural Science, and 

 further for studying subjects associated with the scientific 

 aspect of forest trees, I began as far back as 1887, while 

 residing in Cheshire, to write papers on Forest Insects for the 

 Warrington Field Club. To that district, with its Natural 

 History clubs or societies, and the many excellent men I met 

 in connection with them, I owe a very deep debt of gratitude. 

 I cannot in the present circumstances enumerate all to whom 

 I am indebted for assistance in the present book, but my first 

 teacher in Entomology was the late Mr Berry Kendrick of 

 Warrington, who gave me most ungrudgingly all the help any 

 one could possibly give to a beginner. Of the Warrington 

 Field Club itself it is impossible to speak too highly as a 

 Natural History society. Composed of some fifty members,, 



