74 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



amples were seen, in fact, not one of the handsomest 

 the Violet Tip, Pol^gonia inlerrogationis, and of the 

 Green Comma, P. faunus, recorded by Gosse in 

 1835-38 it still remains unchecked, although I see 

 it has been taken at East Bolton eighteen miles to 

 the west of Hatley see ("A Preliminary List of the 

 Insects of the Province of Quebec," A. F. Winn, 

 1912, p. 13.) 



Of the smaller Fritillaries, N^cteis was better 

 represented and seems more generally distributed 

 than I had hitherto imagined. Harris' Checker- 

 spot, Meliiaea h.anisi, en the other hand appears to 

 have entirely died out from the one meadow where 

 I used to find it, as repeated visits again this season 

 failed to reveal its presence. The Pearly Eye, 

 Enodia portlandia, as in the days of Gosse kept up 

 its reputation for rareness, as I only saw four ex- 

 amples of it during the month of July. The two 

 Hair-streaks, the Acadian, Slrymon acadica, and 

 Striped, Sir^mon Uparops, were found in their usual 



haunts on the roadside, but since then all the 

 shrubs have been cut down and burnt, so that next 

 year may witness a great scarcity, if not total ex- 

 termination of these two species. Hunter's butter- 

 fly, Vanessa virginiensis, which during the past two 

 years has been unusually plentiful has not been seen 

 at all during the present season, and the same re- 

 mark applies almost equally well to the Painted 

 Lady, Vanessa cardui, although I did see one fresh 

 example on October 7. Of the American Tortoise- 

 shell, Aglais milberti, only a few examples hav2 

 been noted, although at one time a season never went 

 by without its larvae being found on a bed of nettles 

 near my house, but of late years none have been seen. 

 In conclusion as last year went down to poster- 

 ity m these parts at all events as a record ento- 

 mological one, so will this one equally do so, but 

 not for abundance, and it is a matter of congratula- 

 tion to think that I had other researches in hand 

 which kept my time fully occupied. 



OBITUARY 



CHARLES GORDON HEWITT 



Science has lost several able men during the last 

 few years and the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club 

 has been deprived of more than one leader of 

 international reputation. Such were the two 

 Macouns and Lawrence M. Lambe and now to 

 these is added C. Gordon Hewitt, late Dominion 

 Entomologist and Consulting Zoologist. 



Dr. Hewitt was born and educated in England 

 and before coming to Canada had taught zoology 

 in the University of Manchester. Accepting the 

 position of Dominion Entomologist soon after the 

 death of Dr. James Fletcher, he came to Canada 

 in the fall of 1909 to take over the new work. 

 His task, at that time, was by no means an easy 

 one as his predecessor had set a very high standard 

 and had, moreover, been highly esteemed by all 

 who knew him. To follow successfully in such 

 footsteps required unusual ability which the new 

 chief was soon found to possess. Fletcher had 

 been hampered by holding the dual position of 

 Entomologist and Botanist, through lack of assis- 

 tants and inadequate quarters. Under the new 

 arrangements the departments were separated and 

 slightly more space became available. 



Dr. Hewitt proved to possess marked executive 

 ability with which he combined a diplomacy that 

 awakened friendly envy among his colleagues of 

 other departments. Within a few years the Divi- 



sion of Entomology had been developed into a 

 separate branch of the Department of Agriculture 

 with a network of field laboratories extending from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. Thus at the time of 

 Dr. Hewitt's death some ten years after he took 

 office, the Entomological Branch contained no less 

 than 63 members, four divisions and maintained 

 twelve field laboratories, with trained officers in 

 charge whose business was to study local insect 

 problems. In addition an efficient quarantine had 

 been inaugurated against the importation of foreign 

 pests. Such is a brief summary of the advance- 

 ment achieved under Dr. Hewitt's direction. 



In addition to Entomology, Dr. Hewitt took a 

 keen interest in kindred sciences, more particularly 

 ornithology, a practical demonstration of which 

 may be recalled in the important Migratory Bird 

 Treaty between the United States and Canada in 

 which Dr. Hewitt, as Consulting Zoologist took 

 a leading part for the Canadian Government. He 

 also entered enthusiastically into the question of 

 establishing bird sanctuaries and did much to 

 create an interest in the erection of bird nesting 

 boxes in the vicinity of Ottawa. 



Towards the last he had turned his attention to 

 studying means for the control of predatory mam- 

 mals and at the time of his death had accumulated 

 a mass of evidence to favor a scheme for sup- 

 pressing such pests. 



