I am an occasional migrant to the tropics from a colder northern climate and was therefore a little surprised when I received an invitation to present this final plenary lecture of the First International Conference on Tropical Entomology. But, although it is many years since I was a resident tropical entomologist, my contact with tropical agricultural entomology and taxonomy goes back more than 30 years. In 1955 I was appointed to the Nigerian Federal Department of Agricultural Research, Moor Plantation, Ibadan to carry out field research on the biology and control of insect pests on sorghum, bulrush millet, maize and rice.