The Collection of Insects formed by Mr. F. Oates, now in the Entomological Museum of the University of Oxford, although not of considerable extent, fortunately comprises examples of many of the very peculiar groups and genera characteristic of the greater part of the African continent. The geographical distribution of animals has, during the last few years, attracted so much attention among naturalists, that a few preliminary observations on the subject will not be considered out of place. M. Lacordaire, in the chapter on the geographical distribution of insects, in his “_Introduction à l’Entomologie_,” divided the African continent into numerous regions, as follows:--1. Upper Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia; 2. The country south of the Atlas Range, as far as the Great Desert, and including Morocco; 3. Senegambia; 4. The coast of Guinea; 5. Congo; 6. The Cape of Good Hope; 7. Madagascar; 8. The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon. In the still more recent works of Mr. Wallace on the geographical distribution of animals, we find that (with the exception of the whole of North Africa--including the northern half of Egypt and of Arabia--which are united with the Mediterranean sub-region and regarded as a portion of the primary Polar Arctic region) the remainder of Africa, south of the tropic of Cancer, is constituted into a primary region, to which the name of “Ethiopian” has been applied, and in which the zoological productions are of a remarkably homogeneous character. Of this Ethiopian region the portion which extends on the western side of the continent, between the rivers Gambia and Congo, and consequently embracing Guinea and the Gold Coast, and reaching as far as 25° East long., is of a distinct character, being occupied by dense forests. To this sub-region the name of “West African” has been applied. Another sub-region, the “South African,” is formed of that part of the continent south of the tropic of Capricorn, but extending northwards along the east coast as far as Mozambique. The remainder of Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the river Gambia on the west coast, and including Senegambia, Timbuctoo, South Egypt, Abyssinia, the eastern half of Africa (including the great lakes, and Zanzibar), and reaching from Mozambique on the east to Angola, Benguela, and Damara Land on the west coast, is considered as forming a third sub-region, to which the inappropriate name of “East Africa” has been applied. It is in the south-eastern portion of this third sub-region that the collection of insects formed by Mr. F. Oates was obtained.