This project investigated some basic questions about the ecology of beneficial insects in and around, cotton; namely where they occur, in both time and space, and how much they move around between, vegetation types. There were two complementary parts to this study. The first was a survey of, beneficial insects in cotton and in vegetation types near cotton. The second was examining, beneficials for pollen using scanning electron microscopy. Pollen can be used to trace movement of, insects between different vegetation types. We focussed on six species of insects known to be, predatory on cotton pests: transverse ladybird, Coccinella transversalis, two spotted ladybird,, Diomus notescens, nabid bug, Nabis kinbergii, red and blue beetle, Dicranolaius bellulus, green, lacewing, Mallada signata, and brown lacewing, Micromus tasmaniae. Samples were taken using a, suction sampler, which is a common sampling method used by agronomists and consultants, working in cotton