xx INTRODUCTION 



(Haplochilus Uneatus), and in the meantime he 

 dubbed them " Scooties " from the lightning 

 rapidity of their movements, and in his own 

 admirable manner made himself a sharer of their 

 joys and sorrows, their cares and interests. With 

 these he stocked the ornamental fountains of Bom- 

 bay to keep them from becoming breeding-grounds 

 for mosquitoes, and they are now largely used 

 throughout India for this very purpose. It will be 

 recognised, therefore, that Mr. Aitken studied natural 

 history not only for its own sake, but as a means 

 of benefiting the people of India, whom he had 

 learned to love, as is so plainly shown in Behind 

 the Bungalow. 



He was an indefatigable worker in the museum 

 of the Bombay Natural History Society, which he 

 helped to found, and many of his papers and notes 

 are preserved for us in the pages of its excellent 

 Journal, of which he was an original joint -editor. 

 He was for long secretary of the Insect Section, and 

 then president. Before his retirement he was 

 elected one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. 



Mr. Aitken was a deeply religious man, and was 

 for some twenty years an elder in the congregation 

 of the United Free Church of Scotland in Bombay. 

 He was for some years Superintendent of the Sunday 

 School in connection with this congregation, and a 

 member of the Committee of the Bombay Scottish 

 Orphanage and the Scottish High Schools. His 

 former minister says of him, " He was deeply inter- 



