134 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO 

 TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA, MAY, 1883. 



The Royal Society of Canada having invited the Entomological Society 

 of Ontario to send a delegate to their recent meeting in Ottawa, the 

 Council recognizing the importance of the work undertaken by the Royal 

 Society and anxious to do all in their power to further the advancement of 

 Science, especially in the department of Natural History, appointed Mr. 

 James Fletcher, of Ottawa, to represent the Entomological Society on that 

 occasion. Mr. Fletcher was present, took jiart in the proceedings and 

 submitted the following report_j 



To the President and Members of the Royal Society of Canada : 



Gentlemen, — In response to the invitation received by the Entomo- 

 logical Society of ( )ntario to send a delegate to the meetings of the Royal 

 Society of Canada, the Council of Management gladly avail themselves 

 of the privilege so accorded them of being represented on this occasion. 



As their delegate I shall endeavor to submit for your information, in as 

 brief a manner as possible, some of the main features relating to the 

 origin and progress of the Society, now so well known as the Entomologi- 

 cal Society of Ontario. It was organized in 1863 under the name of the 

 Entomological Society of Canada, by a few naturalists living in different 

 parts of the Provinces, who met together at Toronto for this special pur- 

 pose. Its membership, at first, was only 16, and this number included all 

 those then known to be interested in the study ©f insect hfe in Canada. 

 From this small beginning the Society has steadily increased until its mem- 

 bership now reaches upwards of 500. 



The benefits of organization and united effort were soon manifested by 

 the rapid accumulation of valuable facts relating to scientific and economic 

 entomology. Formerly this material was, from time to time, published in 

 the pages of the Canadian Journal ; but the increased interest in the work 

 of the Society, and its larger membership, rendered it necessary in a few 

 years to estabfish a periodical of its own, entirely in the interests of Ento- 

 mology. On August ist, 1868, appeared the first number of the Canadian 

 Entomologist, a monthly periodical which has from that time forward 

 been regularly issued, and whicli was for some years the only publication 

 on the continent of America devoted solely to lliis imixirtant branch of 

 natural science. It has now reached its fifteenth volume. From the out- 

 set its pages have been almost entirely filled with the records of original 



