THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 183 



and that the use of poisons was a grave mistake. He was very much 

 gratified with the account of the methods adopted at Washington, and 

 hoped that they would be developed to the utmost. 



Mr. Fletcher, in reply, said that we could not possibly ignore the great 

 value of poisons as remedies against noxious insects ; that it was abso- 

 lutely necessary to use them until we can depend upon the parasites ; 

 and that even if we had the parasites at work upon our destructive 

 insects they might at any time be swept away tlirough a mildew or blight, 

 and we should be left at the mercy of the enemy. He had been in corres- 

 pondence with Mr. Whitehead in England in order to procure the parasite 

 of Diplosis, but unfortunately this gentleman was ill and unable to carry 

 out the project. He had found nearly all the specimens of scale-insects 

 (Aspidiottis) sent to him from British Columbia were parasitized, but had 

 never found one affected in this way in Ontario. 



Dr. Brodie thought that the farming community could never be 

 brought to adopt scientific methods for the protection of their crops till 

 they had suffered from a sweeping destruction. He referred, as an 

 example, to the ravages of the wheat midge some years ago. In the 

 County of York it wrought so much havoc that the wheat fields were 

 deserted and left to the cattle ; a day's threshing would produce two 

 bushels of midges and no grain. When their crops were all destroyed 

 then they were willing to resort to remedies, chief among which were 

 the employment of the " midge-proof wheat " for seed^ a judicious rota- 

 tion of crops, and planting too early or too late to suit the habits of the 

 midge. The introduction of new varieties of wheat was the principal 

 means of getting rid of the pest. He wished that the farmers might lose 

 all their potatoes in order that they might be led by this severe lesson to 

 give up the use of Paris green and adopt scientific means of saving their 

 crops. 



After some further discussion, in the course of which the value of 

 various poisons, such as arsenical preparations, hellebore, kerosene, etc., 

 in checking insect ravages was insisted upon, the subject dropped. 



Dr. White exhibited to the meeting some cheap wood cuts in outline 

 of botanical subjects that were used in illustration of popular articles in 

 " School Work and Play," and recommended that something similar 

 should be done in order to popularise entomology. He said that speci- 

 mens were first photographed upon zinc plates instead of glass, and, in 



