1907] Report op the Council 11 



Your Council, believing that this series of articles is one of 

 the most important contributions made to the science of Nature 

 Study, regrets to report that Dr. Fletcher finds himself compelled 

 to cease editing this department of The Ottawa Naturalist. 

 The Club has on hand,2S0 copies of each of the forty-two articles 

 printed, and the publishing committee has under consideration 

 the question of binding these in book form. 



Reports of Branches. 



These reports, showing the work done throughout the year 

 by the various branches, are being presented at this meeting, 

 and will be published in The Ottawa Naturalist at an early 

 date. Your Council has instituted a Department of Meteorology 

 under the leadership of Dr. Otto Klotz. One of the leaders of 

 this department, Mr. Campbell, gave a Demonstration on the 

 Physics of the Atmosphere before a largely attended meeting in 

 the Ottawa Collegiate Institutte. 



Entomological Branch. 



The members of the Entomological Branch of the Club have 

 continued their good work in the collection and .study of the 

 insects of the Ottawa District. The leaders report that, although 

 the season was not a particularly good one for insects, still many 

 interesting species were taken, and considerable progress made 

 in adding to the lists of the various orders. Notable features of 

 the year were a remarkable outbreak of plant lice on almost all 

 cultivated and wild plants up till midsummer, followed by the 

 appearance of hordes of lady-bird beetles, which very soon 

 destroyed the larger number of the plant lice. It was noticed 

 that very many of these predaceous friends were similarly de- 

 stroyed by parasites. The White Cedars throughout the district 

 were very much injured by the larvae of two minute moths, 

 Argyresthia thuiella, and in far smaller numbers, Recurvaria 

 thujaella. An interesting occurrence was of a Nitidulid beetle, 

 the larvae of which were very destructive to the seeds of the 

 Silver Maple. The entomologists announce the appearance in 

 the Ottawa district of an undesirable visitor in the shape of the 

 Asparagus Beetle, which has done so much harm in western 

 Ontario. An insect which last season appeared in vast numbers 

 was the Greenhouse White-fly {Aleyrodes vaporariorum) , which 

 was abundant on many herbaceous plants and ornamental shrubs 

 in gardens. 



Ornithological Branch. 

 Since the last annual report the Ornithological Section has 

 held meetings at more or less regular intervals. More than 



