TO ZOOLOGISTS. 



At the request of my friend Dr. Smith, I have undertaken to lay before the 

 public such Annulose forms collected by him in South Africa, as appear to be 

 most worthy of notice. It may be well that I should mention here my having 

 lately acquired, by purchase, the very extensive collection of Anviulosa made 

 by M. Verreaux during his long residence at the Cape, and also his manu- 

 script notes on the species collected. Perhaps therefore no naturalist is 

 better provided than I am with those materials which are necessary to enable 

 us to form accurate notions of South African entomology. Upon this subject 

 also, my personal acquaintance with the habits of many exotic genera, may 

 to a certain degree be brought to bear. 



In his descriptions of the vertebrated animals of the Cape, Dr. Smith has 

 adopted a plan of publication, which is at once convenient for himself and 

 for his readers. The subjects which he brings under the notice of natu- 

 ralists, are by reason of their size and importance in the economy of 

 nature, sufficiently interesting to entitle each species to a distinct plate and 

 a long description. He can, therefore, publish each animal in the order 

 that best suits his convenience, reserving for the conclusion his general 

 arrangement, when his readers can either adopt it or bind up the work 

 according to that system which may most please their fancy. I need 

 scarcely say that the expense which would inevitably result from the 

 adoption of any such mode of publication in the description of insects, 

 renders it impossible for me to follow Dr. Smith's example. A whole 

 plate devoted to a single species of annulose animal, would be obviously 

 inconvenient for all parties, and to none more than to the purchasers of 

 this work. It becomes therefore necessary to place several figures in 

 one plate ; the only valid objection to which plan is the difficulty of 

 finally arranging the plates according to system, since each of them must 

 necessarily contain figures of species that belong to very different groupes. 

 This evil, however, I shall endeavour to avoid, by describing as far as 



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