African Entomology 



with elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, and snakes which 

 I have run into, having nothing more lethal in my hand 

 than a net. Sleeping sickness is an ever-present danger to 

 the entomologist, for rare insects are to be found in the 

 swamps and forests inhabited by both the morsitans and 

 palpalis tsetse fly, which have caused the death of more than 

 one entomologist in recent years. One notable case especially 

 occurs to me, that of the death of Mr. DoUman* and his wife 

 from sleeping sickness in Northern Rhodesia, 



The entomologist-collector is a rara avis and is bom, not 

 made ; he has to be somewhat of an anachronism — a kind 

 of Admirable Crichton and war correspondent rolled into one 

 — for to be considered an expert foreign and tropical collector 

 he has to have the following qualities : a knowledge of all 

 branches of natural history and woodcraft and a good bump 

 of locality ; he must have a good memory, endurance, and 

 patience, be fearless, resolute and painstaking, and hard- 

 fisted as well as light-handed as circumstances may demand ; 

 also he must be a good linguist and draughtsman. 



The paraphernalia of an entomologist in the tropics 

 consists of dozens of cyanide of potassium killing bottles, 

 variously shaped nets and collecting boxes, many forceps 

 and pins, powerful gasoline lamps for moths at night, as 

 well as mixtures of treacle, beer, dried fruit, oil of aniseed, 

 and amyl acetate to attract them. Thousands of envelopes 

 are required and special boxes for posting home the captures, 

 which are not " set " until they reach their destination, 



* Mr. Dollman was a very painstaking entomologist, who, besides achieving 

 valuable results from his breeding experiments, amassed a very fine collection 

 of lepidoptera which he generously bequeathed to the British Museum. Mr. 

 N. B. Riley, of the Museum staff, has lately published descriptions of new 

 species from Mr. DoUman's collection, but a fine set of paintings illustrating 

 the life-history of many species still awaits publication. — G. T. 



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