THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 211 



and reach maturity towards the end of the season. They chiefly affect 

 the underside of the hmbs and branches. 



Remedies. — The branches may be tubbed with a stiff brush or broom, 

 which will dislodge many of the insects, and then washed with a liquid 

 made of soap diluted with lye or solution of washing soda, or with an 

 emulsion of coal oil made as follows : Take one pint of coal oil and 

 agitate vigorously with an equal quantity of milk until the compound as- 

 sumes a creamy appearance, when it should be diluted with about ten 

 times its bulk of water and applied with a brush or syringe. 



This pest has occured in many localities in Western Ontario, also in 

 Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. 



That cosmopolitan butterfly known as the painted lady, Pyrameis 

 cardui, has been very abundant the past summer, not only in Canada, 

 but also in most of the Northern United States. From Mr. Burrows I 

 learn that in Manitoba the larvae appeared in such countless hosts as to 

 cause much alarm, and reports were current of their having injured some 

 of the growing crops. This, however, is improbable, as it devotes its at- 

 tention mainly to devouring thistles. Occasionally specimens have been 

 found feeding on mallow, hollyhock, wild sunflower, burdock, and several 

 other plants, none of which, however, are of any economic value. 



A lively interest is being awakened in reference to the insects inhabit- 

 ing our Northwest Territories and British Columbia, of which we as yet 

 know comparatively little. Captain Gamble Geddes, of Toronto, has 

 made excursions to several of these distant points and brought home 

 many rarities. From the Moose Mountain district in the Province of As- 

 sinaboia, a number of interesting specimens have been received, collected 

 by Miss F. M. Pierce. Prof. Panton, of Winnipeg, has been collecting in 

 that neighborhood, and in British Columbia we have a most efficient 

 helper in the person of Mr. G. W. Taylor, who has recently published in 

 the Canadian Entomologist, lists of some of his captures in the neigh- 

 borhood of Victoria. It is sincerely hoped that other observers will be 

 induced to labor in these most interesting and promising fields. 



On the 30th of January last, the House of Commons at Ottawa re- 

 solved to appoint a select committee to inquire into the best means of 

 encouraging and developing the agricultural industries of Canada. Cir- 

 culars were prepared by the committee embracmg a series of questions 

 which were sent to most of the prominent agriculturists and scientific men 

 in the Dominion, to which several hundred replies were received. The 



