OF WASHINGTON. 25 



also arranged a hand-car trip from Payne Mine to Kaslo for our 

 benefit. 



Among the many other persons who helped us by bringing in 

 specimens which came to their notice I would mention in partic 

 ular Master Stephenson, younger son of the Kaslo druggist, who 

 developed into an enthusiastic collector and devoted considerable 

 time to getting insects for us. 



As a result of the summer's work between 38,000 and 39,000 

 insects, spiders and myriapods were brought back. It seems de 

 sirable, therefore, as a preface to Dr. Dyar's paper on British 

 Columbia mosquitoes and to other papers which, it is hoped, 

 will appear from time to time upon different groups of insects 

 contained in the collection, to give this brief account of the trip, 

 together with short descriptions of the localities visited. Prof. 

 C. V. Piper, former Entomologist of the Washington Agricul 

 tural College Experiment Station, has kindly furnished me with 

 the scientific names of the trees, shrubs, and other plants men 

 tioned in this article. 



Kootenay Lake is located in the Selkirk Mountains in eastern 

 British Columbia and is some eighty miles long by from one to 

 five miles wide. Its water is very cold and up to a short dis 

 tance from the shore is said to have a uniform depth of 400 feet. 

 The water this year (1903) reached a height of twenty-four feet 

 above low-water mark in the early summer and was still some 

 what higher than normal when I left. The mountains rise di 

 rectly from the shores of the lake to an altitude of 10,000 feet or 

 less. Their summits are usually bare and rocky and, in many 

 cases, have snow on their slopes throughout the summer. The 

 climate is less severe in winter than in the Rocky Mountains, 

 although colder than on the Pacific Coast. Although there is 

 much snow during the late fall, winter and early spring months, 

 the large lakes do not freeze over, but are open for navigation the 

 entire year. Usually the rainfall is light in summer and there 

 are many forest fires ; but last summer it rained so frequently as 

 to interfere considerably with our collecting. 



The forests in this region are notable on account of the large 

 size and luxuriant growth of the trees smaller than those of the 

 Pacific Coast, but considerably larger than those in the Rocky 

 Mountains. Giant cedar ( Thuya plicata) and hemlock ( Tsuga 

 heterophylla} seem to predominate in the lower altitudes, al 

 though interspersed with Western larch (Larix occidentalis], 

 yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa} and Douglas and Engelmann 

 spruces (Pseudotsuga mucronata and Picea englemanni}. 

 Higher up subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa} and spruce are the 

 prevailing trees. In the clearings and along the creeks are balm 



