PREFACE. 



The formation of a representative collection of the insect fauna 

 of a country is not as a rule considered to be the work of economic 

 entomologists. This is due to the fact that in most countries the 

 fauna has generally been fairly thoroughly worked up by auiateurs 

 and a good public reference collection in a museum is available for 

 the use of the economic entomologist. In Egypt, however, at the 

 time of the creation of the Department of Agriculture, there was no 

 such public collection, and the only works devoted to the insects of 

 Egypt alone, apart from a number of more or less incomplete lists 

 without descriptions, were three brief memoirs published by the 

 " Societe Entomologique d'Egypte." In view of these circumstances 

 the collection, of which the ensuing pages contain a list of the hitherto 

 identified species, has been brought together in the course of the past 

 four years with a view not so much to adding to the systematic know- 

 ledge of the fauna of the country as to assisting in economic work. 



A well classified and identified collection is always essential as 

 the basis for both economic and biological research, since without 

 having a name for an insect by which it can always be recognized, it 

 is practically impossible either to benefit from the knowledge that 

 other workers liave obtained about it or to pass on .to them the 

 knowledge that one obtains oneself. Of course, in the making of a 

 large collection, large numbers of species of no importance to the 

 agriculturist are sure to be dealt with. Of the 154 families mentioned 

 in the following list, however, about 100 include species of economic 

 interest, and it is always useful to know something about the relatives 

 of a dangerous or a useful insect. Again, it is often almost as neces- 

 sary to be able to say definitely that a certain insect is not, and is not 

 likely to become, of economic importance as to be able to say that 



