VOL. XVI. LONDON, ONT., APRIL, 1884. No. 4. 



NOTES ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. 



BY GEO. W. TAYLOR, VICTORIA, B. C. 



Since I came to this island, a couple of seasons ago, I have made a 

 practice of capturing any insects that came in my way, and I have some- 

 times made an expedition purposely in pursuit of such prey. The result 

 is an accumulation of about one thousand species of all orders, which pro- 

 bably represents not more than five per cent, of our insect population. 



As my favorite studies are in another department of Zoology, I have 

 neither the inclination nor sufficient knowledge to work out all this material 

 myself, but with the help of entomological friends, resident, alas ! sadly, too 

 far off, I am gradually making progress with the naming of my captures, 

 and I propose, with your permission, to publish from time to time in the 

 Canadian Entomologist, lists, with notes, of the species that have occur- 

 red to me. I hope that this will be both useful and interesting to Eastern 

 entomologists, as I notice that hardly more than one half of the insects I 

 have already identified are named in the recently published check list of 

 Messrs. Brodie & White, and many of them will prove, I think, new to 

 science. 



This month, however, I will content myself with a few general and 

 preliminary remarks. Our climate (I am speaking only of the south-east- 

 erly portion of Vancouver Island) is supposed to resemble that of the south 

 of England, but I should call it decidedly milder. Our spring is warm 

 and early, and the summer hot and dry, but with cool nights and copious 

 dews. On the other hand, the winter is mild, and for about three months 

 exceedingly wet. All kinds of vegetation are very luxuriant. The uncul- 

 tivated lands are thickly covered with heavy timber, and the cultivated 

 lands are at present few and far between, which makes it easier to combat 

 the attacks of our noxious insects (and of these we have not a few). All 

 our climatic conditions, except perhaps the wet winter, are favorable to 

 abundant insect life, and this undoubtedly exists here. There are several 

 points about our insect fauna that cannot fail to strike an observer. In the 



