PREFACE. 
The present “Monograph of the Culicidae or Mosquitoes ’’ had 
its origin in the appointment by the Royal Society, at the 
request of the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, of a Committee 
to co-operate with the officials of the Colonial Office in the 
investigation of the causes of malaria and the possibility of 
controlling that scourge of tropical lands. I was a member of 
that Committee, and very soon came to the conclusion that a 
most important service might be rendered in furtherance of the 
object in view by the preparation of a work describing the mos¬ 
quitoes of all parts of the world, so as to enable the medical men 
engaged in tracing the connection between mosquitoes and 
human disease to indentify and to speak with precision of the 
species implicated. As the collection of Culicidae existing in 
the Natural History Museum was small, and the group had 
never been specially cultivated by any of our entomologists, I 
sought the assistance of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, 
and the India Office in the attempt to procure properly preserved 
collections of mosquitoes from all parts of the world. The most 
active steps were taken by the officials of those great depart¬ 
ments of State, and the circular reprinted on p. x. was drawn 
up by the Secretary of StaFe for the Colonies and despatched to 
every officer of the colonial service. Other organisations and 
- institutions, as well as private individuals and collectors through- 
out the world, were asked to assist in the undertaking. The 
result has been the reception at the Natural History Museum 
of a very large series of more or less extensive collections of 
mosquitoes from all parts of the world. Collections are still 
arriving, and it is to be hoped that this will continue for years 
to come. A complete list of the collections received up to the 
end of March, 1901, is given on page 357 of Yol. II. The 
Trustees of the British Museum, in view of the national 
importance of a thorough knowledge of the Culicidae , determined 
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