Dear Maus, On February 4, 1970you put your signature on the Invitation Circular that the three of us were to send out to the Dutch odonatologists, inviting them to an informal meeting to take place in Utrecht, on March 7 of the same year. None of us could have dreamt then that this "First Colloquium of Dutch Dragonfly Workers" was to inspire the birth of our "dragonfly family". It took but 19 months after that date for SIO to be formally constituted in Ghent and within hardly a decade it was destined to become the largest specialized entomological society, with membership in over 60 countries throughout the globe. As you know, one of the very first moves of the Society, within the first 10 minutes of its existence, right there in Ghent, was to award you the MEMBERSHIP OF HONOUR. At the same lime, your first forma! service to the Society was your suggestion to set up an ABSTRACTING SERVICE through Odonalologica. We cannot recollect now which of these two motions was passed first, but we can certainly assure you that both of them are considered by the odonatologists throughout the world among the most fortunate and fit ting motions ever passed by SIO.