INSECTS AND : r 

 AND THEIE IMPORTANCE 'ifr 

 SPEEAD OF DISEASE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE entrance to the museum is at the South end of the Central 

 Hall, and the main staircase at the North end ; the side of the 

 Hall to the right of the visitor as he enters is the East. The 

 Bays or Recesses around the Hall are designated by numerals, 

 painted below the end windows. On the East side the most 

 southern bay, that near the statue of Prof. Huxley, is No. X ; on 

 the West side the southern bay, with the bust of Sir William 

 Flower against the arch, is No. I. 



The grouping of the objects in the following pages is one based 

 upon the systematic, position of the insects themselves, and not 

 according to the sequence of the show-cases in which they are 

 exhibited. This arrangement has the effect of causing a visitor 

 who reads the pages consecutively to walk away from a case before 

 exhausting it, and to return to the case later in order to see other 

 insects contained in it ; but the method has the advantage of 

 preventing any mental confusion that might possibly arise from a 

 study of both mosquitoes and tsetse-flies in one show-case, followed 

 by an examination of mosquitoes and tsetse-flies in other cases. 

 It is preferable to complete the examination of all the mosquitoes 

 exhibited, and then to commence the study of the tsetse-flies, and 

 to pass on subsequently to other groups of insects in their turn. 



While most of the specimens are displayed in ordinary 

 museum show-cases, a few, mainly fleas, are shown under two 

 microscopes of special construction which permits of the 

 examination of several specimens in succession. The slides are 



