256 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



years of age, made the ascent of Mont Pilatus, in company with his elder, 

 brother Henry; their object, in addition to the ever delightful one of 

 mountain-cUmbing, being the collecting of butterflies. The family after- 

 wards visited Neuwied, and returned to Arno's Grove in 1820. 



In 1830 the two ])rothers, Henry and Francis, again visited the 

 Continent, and now it was purely an Entomological tour, the late Mr. 

 Curtis, the well-known author of ' British Entomology,- being their com- 

 panion. This party collected most assiduously in the island of Jersey, and 

 afterwards at Fontainebleau, Montpellier, Eyons, Nantes, A^aucluse, &c., 

 the French Satyridce, of which they formed very fine collections, being 

 their i)rincipal object. 



Mr. Walkers career as an author commenced in 1832. He contributed 

 to the first number of the ' F,ntomological Magazine,' the introductory 

 chapter of his ' Monographia Chalciditum,' a work on the minute parasitic 

 Hymenoptera — a tribe of insects which he ever afterwards studied with 

 the most assiduous attention, and one on which he immediately became 

 the leading authority. He was then only twenty-three years of age ; but 

 his writings exhibited a depth of research and maturity of judgment which 

 have rarely been excelled, and wliich abundantly evince the time and 

 talent he had already devoted to these insects. It is worthy of notice 

 that he now descended from the largest and most showy to the smallest 

 and least conspicuous of insects, doubtless feeling that whereas among 

 the magnificent Initterflies there was little opportunity for the discover}^ of 

 novelties, among the Chalcidites everything was new — everything required 

 that minute, patient, and laborious investigation in which he seemed so 

 especially to delight. Only two authors, Dalman and Spinola, had pre- 

 ceded him in devoting their attention to the structure of these atoms of 

 creation ; and even these two had described comparati\ ely a \-ery small 

 number of species. 



In 1834 Mr. Walker, somewhat reluctantly, consented to undertake 

 the editorial management of the ' Entomological Magazine,' and resigned 

 this ofiice the following year, yet continued a constant contributor to its 

 pages. I'he same year he visited Lapland, in company with two of our 

 most distinguished botanists ; and in this extreme north of Europe, and 

 especially at Alten and Hammerfest, he assiduously collected insects, more 

 particularly the northern Diptera, the Satyridae among Lepidoptera, and 

 the Chalcididce amongst Hymenoptera. During this journey we have the 

 first and only notice of his prowess as a sportsman : he shot wild grouse 



