THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 183 



now. But still how very much more remains to be done ? What a field 

 of labour there is before both student and collector in the Carabidae, the 

 Staphylinid^e, the Curculionidn2 and other numerous families of beetles ! 

 May we not hope that during the coming winter our present scattered 

 stores of knowledge will be utilized and made available for the good of 

 all, by the compilation and publication of a large addition to our old and 

 valuable list of Canadian Coleoptera ? 



If there remains so much to be done in these two favorite orders, 

 what shall I say of the remainder, that are so generally neglected ? It is 

 surely time that some of our members should devote themselves to the 

 working up of such interesting orders as the Neuroptera, the Hymen- 

 optera, the Orthoptera, the Hemiptera, even if no one can be found at 

 present to take up the study of the more difficult Diptera. 



In all these orders there is the nucleus of a collection in the cabinets 

 of our vSociety, while no doubt much additional material would be 

 furnished by individuals to any member who will take up in earnest the 

 study of any one of them. It would be a great contribution to our 

 knowledge of Canadian insects if there could be published by the Society 

 carefully prepared lists of as many species as possible in each of these 

 orders. Such lists would, of course, be very incomplete at first, but they 

 could easily be so arranged in publication that additions might be made 

 to them at any time, as our stores of knowledge increase. 



Such, gentlemen, are some of the modes in which, I think, we should 

 endeavour to extend the operations of our Society. If each year, when 

 we assemble together for our annual meeting, we can point to some such 

 work done in the previous twelvemonth, we shall have good reason to 

 congratulate ourselves upon real permanent progress — upon building up 

 the foundation of an Entomological structure that will prove enduring 

 and substantial in time to come. 



Thus far I have referred to Entomology as a purely scientific pursuit ; 

 there is another aspect in which we cannot refrain from regarding it, viz., 

 as a subject of very great economic importance to every inhabitant of our 

 land. This view of Entomology has been especially brought before us of 

 late by the havoc that has been produced in our farms and gardens by 

 hordes of destructive insects. 



The dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle {Doryphoi-a decem-lineaia) has 

 spread eastward with great rapidity, and has now reached the Atlantic 

 coast in some parts of the United States. I have been informed by 



