24 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



POPULAR AND ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



(This is the first of a series of articles, which, it is hoped, will appeal to our amateur readers and 



those primarily interested m agriculture. They are not offered as original contributions 



to science, but may incidentally contain new observations. — Ed.). 



Some Inhabitants of a Sand Plain in June.* 



BY NORMAN CRIDDLE, TREESBANK, MAN. 



The locality chosen for this paper is a drifting, undulated 

 sand plain, some two miles in length and not more than half that 

 distance across at its widest point. It is surrounded on three 

 sides by low, sparsely-grassed, sand dunes, not infrequently 

 scolloped out and bare to the south, and having a denser, or even 

 luxuriant vegetation on the north side. Between these ridges are 

 low, undulated valleys, which in early days were thickly wooded, 

 and often contained small ponds. Now much of the larger timber 

 has been destroyed by fire and the ponds are dry. Scattered over 

 all this area, however, are still numerous white spruce, while 

 aspen poplars are again rapidly making their way through the 

 often dense willow scrub. 



On the east of our plain is a large bog extending for a number 

 of miles, containing the usual vegetation including larch, black 

 spruce, birch and a variety of small shrubs and plants too 

 numerous to mention. 



On the sand plain, itself, with which we are chiefly concerned, 

 are several islands of trees, surrounded, that is, by sand, and upon 

 which are larch, poplars, birch, willow, maple, cherry, etc., while 

 in the valleys sheltered from the actual drift may be found 

 Elaagnus argentea, Arctostaphylos uva-nrsi, Pctalostemon Candida 

 and P, villosa, Senecio manitohensis, wild sunflowers aud others. 



The sand itself is yellowish-white and on account of constantly 

 drifting, remains permanently wet a few inches below the surface. 

 It is this condition that enables it to support the plants mentioned 

 above as well as a binding grass, Orizopsis ciispidata, and two 

 others which grow extensively, namely, a stout form of Andropogon 

 furcalum and Calomovalfa longifolia. 



The date of our trip is June 20th — the locality Aweme, and 

 Province Manitoba. 



*Contributions from the Entomological Branch, Department of Agriculture, 

 Ottawa. 



January, 1915 



