A history of odonatology in the British Isles

The development of odonatology in the British Isles is traced from 1634 to the present and reference is made to the contributions made by British odonatologists to the knowledge of the fauna of other regions and to odonatology in general. Among the portraits accompanying the paper, those of K.J. MORTON (1858-1940), H. CAMPION (1869-1932), and N. MacNEILL (1899-1969) had not been published previously. I have been asked to give a brief account of the history of odonatology in the British Isles and of British odonatologists. There are a number here present who are eminently more qualified than I am for this task. But doubtless modesty would prevent them from doing justice to their own contribution to the Science. Whereas I myself, having contributed nothing, need have no such inhibitions.1