1909] The Ottawa Naturalist. 29 



of insects have been taken during the season in the Ottawa 

 district by local members. 



The Entomological Branch, in the death of its foremost 

 leader, Dr. James Fletcher, has sustained an irreparable loss. 

 It is hardly necessary to refer here other than briefly to this sad 

 event which is felt so keenly by the Club, as the January issue 

 of the Ottawa Naturalist is a Memorial Number containing 

 tributes from leading members. 



In August we were glad to welcome to the Branch, Mr. 

 Herbert Groh, a new Assistant in the Division of Entomology 

 and Botany of the Dominion Experimental Farms. 



During the winter months the fortnightly meetings of the 

 Branch have been continued. These meetings are most helpful. 

 Many specimens of great interest are exhibited at each meeting 

 and much information given concerning their habits, etc. At 

 these meetings it is customary for each member to bring some- 

 thing to exhibit or some paper to read. New books on ento- 

 mology are shown from time to time, and in this way the members 

 are kept in touch with publications as they appear. It is a 

 pity that more members of the Club do not take an interest in 

 insect life. There is no more promising field for good work of 

 a scientific nature than in entomology, and certainly no subject 

 of more intense interest. The pleasure derived from watching 

 an insect emerge from its egg, or a caterpillar change to the 

 chrysalis state, or a moth issue from its cocoon, is most 

 fascinating. 



As in previous years some of our local members brought 

 back with them from their distant fields of labour, small collec- 

 tions of insects of special interest. Mr. Joseph Keele, of the 

 Geological Survey, made some valuable collections at the mouth 

 of the Gravel River and along the McKenzie River adjacent, 

 on the eastern slope of the Rockies. Mr. C. H. Young, of the 

 same department, spent the months of August and September 

 at the Biological Station, Departure Bay, B.C., with our highly 

 esteemed Honorary Member, the Rev. G. W. Taylor, who 

 is now there as Curator of the Station. Mr. Young collected 

 insects of several orders, among which are some of much interest. 

 Mr. Douglas H. Nelles, of the Alaska Boundary Survey, spent 

 the summer in the Yukon district between Whitehorse and the 

 141st Meridian and brought back with him a small collection of 

 butterflies. Mr. Andrew Halkett, of the Fisheries Museum, 

 returned to Ottawa in November, with a small collection of 

 insects taken in Alberta. Dr. Fletcher made a hurried trip to 

 British Columbia in September and October and while stopping 

 over for a day or two each at Nepigon, Ont., Regina. Sask.. 

 Banff, Alta., and Departure Bay, B.C., collected many insects 



