PREFACE. 
The present volume consists primarily of a series of Beports to the 
Board of Agriculture, of Beports and letters to a variety of unofficial 
correspondents, and of Beports to the Foreign Office and to the 
Colonial Office, drawn up by Mr. F. V. Theobald during the years 
1901-1902. Mr. Theobald has recently been employed by the 
Trustees of the British Museum to assist the Director in such work, 
especially with a view to furnishing the Board of Agriculture with 
scientific information on Economic Zoology, in accordance with a 
request made by that Department of his Majesty’s Government. 
Mr. Theobald is well known as an authority on Economic Zoology, 
and has the advantage, in carrying out his work at the Natural 
History Museum, of consulting with the various specialists on the 
scientific staff, as well as of making use of the collections and library 
of the Museum. 
I have added to Mr. Theobald’s Beports an introductory scheme 
or outline of the study known as Economic Zoology, in the form of 
a classified survey of the various sub-divisions which it is found 
convenient to recognise in the treatment of this subject. For this 
classification I am responsible, whilst Mr. Theobald has been good 
enough to fill in the list of selected examples. I have also added 
some correspondence on Tsetse-fly disease, and on the proposed 
investigation of the Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon, and on the Marine 
Besources of the West Indies, which arose from my being consulted 
in my official capacity by his Majesty’s Secretaries of State for 
Foreign Affairs and for the Colonies. 
The Trustees have ordered the publication of the present Beport, 
in order that the valuable information which it contains may be 
made easily accessible; and further, in order to make clear the 
nature and amount of scientific information on matters of economic 
importance which the staff of the Zoological Department is almost 
daily called upon and is prepared to furnish to the public service or 
to individuals. It must be remembered that the Beports and letters 
printed in this volume form only a portion of the work of economic 
importance which is carried out by this Museum, in addition to the 
