Production of cotton in Australia is very dependent on insecticides for the control of the major pests, Helicoverpa spp, mites and sucking insects. This approach has resulted in even greater reliance on insecticides because of pest resurgence and the need to control secondary pest outbreaks. For many years now some researchers have been espousing a view that beneficial insects - predators and parasites- are important in the management of some of these pests. However, disruption by insecticide sprays has often negated any effect beneficials might have in managing pest populations. Despite intensive research over many years to quantify the importance of beneficial insects, it seems we are still a long way from understanding just how effective they are. In fact there are some mixed messages emerging from recent research (Stanley and Gregg 1994). According to Robert Mensah, NSW Agriculture, these mixed messages have come about because most researchers have evaluated the performance of beneficial insects only on the number of prey individuals can eat, grouping them as important or non-important. However the significance of predation to prey populations depends upon (1) the total number of predators present and (2) the predators ability to find and consume prey. For example, individual predators may consume only small numbers of prey; however, if predator density is high relative to prey density then predators may cause significant mortality in prey populations. Conversely, individual predators may consume large numbers of prey, but if predator density is low relative to prey density the overall effect on prey populations may be slight. The concerted action of these beneficial insects to control prey is more important. Researchers must therefore understand how whole communities of generalist and specialist natural enemies act to suppress pests e. g. Helicoverpa spp , not just the individual species which we introduce or augment.