Vll. 



sibly through his influence that his attention was diverted 

 from the Lepidoptera to the Coleoptera. 



When in England he contributed many notes to ento- 

 mological publications, and especially to "The Weekly Ento- 

 mologist." About half of the leaders of that rather short- 

 lived publication were from his pen. The leaders were not 

 published with their writers' names, but in his own bound 

 copy of that publication the author's initials are marked in 

 pencil, some of his own being on such diverse subjects as 

 ''Union is Strength," "Wanted, Entomologists!" "Dis- 

 coveries," "Notes from Lacordaire," "Mites," "The Natural 

 History of the Tineina," "Nunquam Moriemur Inusti:" 



He was then nineteen years of age ! After his transfer 

 to Honolulu he also wrote a few notes on insects. But in 

 Australia, except for a paper read before a meeting of the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 

 held in Adelaide, he confined himself to descriptive work. 



He began his work on Lepidoptera in England, but soon 

 afterwards took up the Coleoptera. After his transfer to 

 Honolulu he collected insects of all Orders, and many 

 of these he worked out, either alone or in collaboration with 

 Messrs. Cameron and Kirby and Dr. Sharp. He also sent 

 numerous specimens from the Hawaiian Islands to various 

 specialists, who published the results, and in this way it was 

 from his work alone that the insect fauna of that interesting 

 group of islands became very well known in comparison to 

 what it was before. After landing in Australia, however, 

 he practically dropped all work on insects other than beetles, 

 such specimens of a general kind that came in his way he 

 simply handed over to the South Australian Museum. 



As previously stated, Mr. Blackburn arrived in Aus- 

 tralia in 1882, and his first paper was contributed to the 

 Royal Society of South Australia in 1887. In 1888 he con- 

 tributed his first paper to the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, to which Society he was elected a Corresponding Mem- 

 ber in the same year. For some years also he belonged 

 to the Australasian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and for many years he was Honorary Curator in 

 Entomology to the South Australian Museum. 



His descriptions were drawn up with great care, the diag- 

 nosis being in Latin, followed by comparative notes in 

 English. 



In his early years in Australia he made large collections 

 in the Port Lincoln district, and after his transfer to Wood- 

 ville he collected in that neighbourhood, and also made 

 special collecting trips to Oodnadatta and other districts in 

 South Australia. 



ACL* 



