INSECTS pletely described as it might have been had there been more opportunity for collating the material in the different collections. For the past seven years considerable attention has been given in the Agricultural Department of the Technical School to the injurious pests of the county, and in connexion with the County Council agricultural work, farmers and market-gardeners have been encouraged by gratuitous advice or treatment to report on damage done, and to send in specimens for identification. In each of the orders throughout this article special reference is made to the extent of the injury caused by different species in the county since systematic observations began, but the limited space prevents more than occasional reference to pre- ventative and remedial methods of treatment. The following table shows at a glance the number of Cornish insects in each order that, so far as the writer is aware, have been identified up to 31 March, 1906. It is more than probable -that the numbers given are in some cases slightly understated, as it has been impossible for the author at Truro to gain access to all the monographs on British insects or to ransack all the entomological periodicals for records : Aptera . Orthoptera (including introductions) Neuroptera . Dragon-flies. Pseudo-neuroptera Neuroptera-planipennia Trichoptera . Hymenoptcra Phytophaga . Entomophaga Aculeata, &c. Coleoptera . Lepidoptera. Rhopalocera Heterocera . Diptera Hemiptera . Heteroptera . Homoptera . Aphides 24 66 34 218 53i 263 48 1,065 218 101 48 36 222 1,012 I,73 722 98 Total 5,273 These numbers, of course, are approximately true only up to the date specified, as several of them will be considerably increased when the Lizard peninsula and the north coast receive systematic and continuous attention. Unfortunately, too, our knowledge of the insects of the entire eastern half of the county, except the Whitsand Bay and Plymouth district, is still in a frag- mentary condition because of the dearth of resident entomologists. Among the Diptera and the Entomophagous Hymenoptera there must be many hundreds of county specimens waiting identification, and in every order, save the Aptera and the Orthoptera, there is a residue of doubtful and unidentified species, several of which may prove new to the British Isles. In addition to the help from so many ' brethren of the net ' acknowledged in almost every section of the work, the writer wishes to express his great 165
