INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



— a multum-in-parvo — and it is hoped that, as a result, 

 these myriads of creatures will receive a greater share of 

 attention than has heretofore been accorded them. It 

 should be pointed out that the classification of Insects 

 is being constantly altered, and whilst to-day the Orders 

 herein included are mostly accepted, to-morrow may see 

 the Fleas, for example, taken out of the Diptera, and 

 placed elsewhere. There seems no finality, partly 

 because we are only gradually acquiring sufficient in- 

 formation for dealing with them, and many puzzles still 

 exist. The aim has been to take the ten chief Orders of 

 Insects represented in Britain, and to deal with them 

 accordingly. The Author has largely followed the 

 " Guide to the Exhibited Series of Insects in the Depart- 

 ment of Entomology " at the British Museum (Natural 

 History), and he has to acknowledge the courtesy of the 

 Trustees of that wonderful Institution in loaning blocks 

 of Figs. I, 2, 3, 4, II, 12, 13, 24, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 

 and 38, and to Mr. Ray Palmer, F.E.S., of Letchworth 

 Museum, for helpful assistance in classification. Ack- 

 nowledgment is also made of the use, as a work of re- 

 ference, of the Author's recently published collaborative 

 treatise : " Pests of the Garden and Orchard, Farm and 

 Forest " (Palmer and Westell, Drane, Nov. 1922). 



V) 



