222 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



inferior in extent is the collection of larvje preserved at the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, and I have no doubt that good collections are at 

 the laboratories of the Cornell University and at Champaign, Ills., though 

 I have no personal knowledge of them. Finally, I hope that valuable 

 material is accumulating at the various experiment stations. What I said 

 before of collections of imago specimens may be repeated here : if the 

 biological material now scattered in various collections could be concen- 

 trated we would see that far more has been accomplished than we are 

 generally inclined to suppose. Still, there is an almost exasperating want 

 of knowledge of the larvae of just such families or genera the systematic 

 position of which is in doubt. Thus the larva of the South American 

 Hypocephalus armatus would throw light, and in all probability fully clear 

 up the affinities of this remarkable and much discussed beetle. In our 

 own fauna, if we had the larvse of Cupes or Rhyssodes the uncertainty 

 regarding the affinities of these families would be removed ; if we had 

 the larva of the genus Nicagus we would at once know whether it is a 

 Lucanid or a Scarabsid. 



The life histories of Coleoptera, so far as these are of common import- 

 ance have generally been well studied and recorded with great thorough- 

 ness. The investigations of the life histories of our Blister beetles, the 

 root-feeding Chrysomelidse, the Elateridae, the May beetles, are only a few 

 examples of what has been done since the foundation of our Club. How 

 much can be learned by careful study of the natural history of what were 

 supposed to be well-known Coleoptera is illustrated by Dr. Riley's recent 

 discovery of the first larval state of our common Bean and Pea weevils 

 (Bruchidae), and also by Prof Forbes's admirable studies in the food-habits 

 of our common Carabidse and Coccinellidae. 



Qutside of economic entomology very little work has been done in 

 the investigation of the full life history of our Coleoptera, except the almost 

 countless little notes that have been published on the food-habits or 

 other habits of both imago and larva, on the mode of work of the latter, 

 time of appearance, length of life, number of annual generations, etc. 

 These notes furnish in their aggregate much valuable, though somewhat 

 fragmentary material for the biology of many species and genera. How 

 difficult it is to trace the full life history of a given species is well illus- 

 trated by the Coleopterous Beaver parasite, Platypsylliis castoris. 

 Through the exertions of Dr. Riley the most careful investigations were 

 carried on in various parts of the country and at various seasons to fill 



