2 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



something may be doiie for all who care for insects, without filling out 

 pages too much with technicalities, and without losing sight of all 

 additions to our knowledge by becoming simply " popular." To steer a 

 suitable course between the Scylia of abstruse science on the one side, 

 and the Charybdis of mere " popularity " on the other, is no easy task, 

 and we fear has not yet been achieved by us. We hope, however, in the 

 forthcoming volume to do a little better in this respect, and we look 

 forward to a continuance of friendly aid from our correspondents in 

 various quarters to enable us to overcome the difficulty. As a first step 

 towards improvement we propose to present to our readers a series of 

 illustrated papers on the common Butterflies of North America — with 

 special reference to those found in Canada. We hope that we shall thus 

 be enabled in time to furnish beginners in Entomology with a hand book 

 that will enable them easily to identify any common butterfly and to 

 ascertain where and when it may be found, what its larva feeds upon, and 

 such other useful information as may be gathered into a short space. 

 Owing to the difficulty there is in obtaining really satisfactory wood cuts of 

 insects, and the time that is required for their production, we shall not be 

 able to take up the different species of Butterflies in any systematic order, 

 but only as we are able to obtain the necessary materials. We shall be 

 very thankful, indeed, for assistance from our readers in this department ; 

 almost every one can help us with lists of species observed in his own 

 neighborhood, or with notes on their time of appearance and disappear- 

 ance, number of broods, larval habits, etc., etc. 



The "Hints to Fruit Growers" that have been afforded by one of 

 our Editorial Staff — Mr. Saunders — will be continued with greater 

 frequency during the coming year ; we are glad to learn from various 

 sources that those already published have proved of much value to our 

 horticultural readers. 



As a further improvement, we should be pleased to receive corres- 

 pondence from our readers upon general Entomological subjects of the 

 clay ; for instance, at the present moment, upon the vexed, and we may 

 surely say vexatious, question of nomenclature. 



It will be a relief, no doubt, to the majority of our readers to learn 

 that the reprint of Kirby's Insects of the Norther 71 Parts of British 

 America is now fast approaching completion, and will cease ere long to 

 distress them with its constant recurrence. The whole will, when finished, 

 be made up into a separate volume and be sold at a moderate price. We 

 have no doubt that it will prove of much value to those who are unable 



