xiv EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 



availed himself to the full of the abundant opportuni- 

 ties for studying the animal life of the tropics, and of 

 making observations in anthropology, a subject which 

 always strongly attracted him. His fruitful labours in 

 the increase and arrangement of the Sarawak Museum 

 naturally led him to take a wide survey of the animal 

 kingdom, and he soon began the study of mimicry, a 

 subject which regards from one point of view a multi- 

 tude of diverse forms, including insects of the most 

 varied groups and their vertebrate enemies. He found 

 Borneo a very rich and imperfectly explored field for 

 the study of this subject, and before long he entered 

 into a regular correspondence with me, sending large 

 consignments of insects for investigation and determi- 

 nation. The result of his observations and work was 

 the appearance in 1902 of an important paper in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (p. 230). 

 This valuable and interesting monograph is illustrated 

 by five coloured plates showing Bornean mimetic insects 

 of many widely separated groups. Our correspondence 

 went on, and he continued to send the record of observ- 

 ations and specimens of great interest until his seven 

 years' tenure of the Curatorship came to an end in 

 1905. Towards the close of this period he wrote to me 

 saying that if it was impossible to provide a salary he 

 must really come and work in the Hope Department at 

 Oxford without one ! Fortunately, at this moment, 

 Magdalen College began to place an annual grant at 

 the disposal of the University for the provision of 

 extra assistance in the Departments, and it thus became 

 possible to establish an Assistant-Curatorship, with a 

 small income, augmented later on from the Common 

 University Fund. Shelford accepted this position, and 



