THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 241 



they are subject. Experience since gained has confirmed this opinion. 

 During the period which has elapsed much discussion has taken place re- 

 garding the English sparrow, which has now increased to a considerable 

 extent in many of our towns and cities, and occasional flocks of them find 

 their way into the country. While this fearless little bird has had many 

 advocates, the weight of evidence is undoubtedly against it, and it now 

 stands convicted on several counts : of destructive propensities from 

 the grain it destroys and devours and the injury it does to fruit trees by 

 eating the buds ; of pugnacity, which results in its driving away other and 

 more useful native birds, while on the other hand the good it does in the 

 way of consuming injurious insects, as proven by the examination of the 

 crops of many of them, is comparatively small. The question is often 

 asked by the friends of the sparrow, when the merits of this little emigrant 

 are under consideration : " How is it that we hear no complaints of its 

 depredations in England, where it has so long been a common bird ?" 

 Frequent complaints are made in England regarding it, and measures 

 urged for its destruction. In recent reports issued there, especially those 

 published by that well known and talented authoress, Miss E. Ormerod, we 

 find serious charges recorded. One writer states that the sparrow has 

 greatly increased in England during the past ten years, that large flocks 

 of them sweep down on the wheat fields, devouring and destroying a con- 

 siderable proportion of the grain. It is estimated that one million pounds 

 sterling would not repay the farmers of England for the yearly loss sus- 

 tained through the depredations of this quarrelsome pest. Besides the 

 direct injury thus occasioned, it is said that sparrows prevent the increase 

 of swallows, and drive the soft-billed insect-eating birds, which feed largely 

 on the eggs and larvae of insects, from the gardens and orchards, while 

 they seldom eat a caterpillar. Another bears evidence of having seen a 

 field of wheat so utterly ruined by legions of sparrows that it was left un- 

 cut ; many other similar instances are cited. It is highly probable that 

 we shall in the near future have many occasions to regret that this bird 

 was ever introduced into Canada. 



During the past year some interesting facts have been published bear- 

 ing on the retarding influences of cold on the development of insects, as 

 seen in the arctic regions. These observations have extended over 

 several years, and show that butterflies which in the warmer regions of the 

 earth pass through all their transformations once or more in a season, take 

 two or three years to complete a single cycle where the summer season is 

 very short and the prevailing temperature low. 



