64 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



attended to this enquiry. The insect builds commonly in muddy places 

 on river banks, such as the Don. near Toronto, and Rideau, near Ottawa, 

 where I found the cells quite common in the autumn ; but no doubt they 

 can be found under logs near any of the smaller rivers in Ontario. 



I pass now to another subject— The Report of the Fruit Growers 

 Association of Ontario, to which is appended a Report of some of the 

 Noxious Insects of Canada. I am glad to notice that Ontario takes the 

 lead in these useful and instructive matters ; but what in the world are 

 the Fruit Growers about in offering such large prizes for the dead bodies 

 of so many specimens of Conotrachelus nenuphar ? The Report states 

 that thirteen persons collected last year 13,653 bodies of this weevil, for 

 which the Association may have paid upwards of sixty dollars. Now, I 

 ask any person who has studied this insect, or the habits of the family to 

 which it belongs, if he discovered any natural check on its increase more 

 than any other species of Coleoptera ? During my residence in Ontario. 

 I have not, but, on the contrary, know that they have a prolific year like 

 every other creature on this earth. Well, say that next year will be its 

 prolific year, what a drain would be made on the funds of the Association, 

 provided a person was lucky enough to discover a metropolis of the 

 insect, as I did several years ago at Toronto ! They occupied a number 

 of choke-cherry trees which grew on each side of the road that divided 

 the Allan from the Ridout property, north of Queen-street. At the rate 

 offered to-day by the Association for so many of their bodies, I could, at 

 that time, have easily made twenty dollars per daw This weevil occurs 

 on all cherry and plum-bearing trees growing in the wilds of the west ; and 

 I also found it destructive en the butternut growing in the Don valley, 

 where it attacks the fallen fruit, in which it undergoes its changes within 

 tiie decayed nut on the surface of the ground. 1 am afraid that this pest 

 has too great a latitude in the west, and it will be difficult to lessen them 

 until we are thoroughly acquainted with the various fruits and nuts which 

 serve to propagate them ; indeed, not even then can we be rid of them, 

 unless attention is paid to the destruction of all tiie fallen fruits which are 

 found under the trees on which they occur. Conotrachelus iwiuphdr does 

 not appear to be very destructive to plum trees in the districts of Quebec. 

 Montreal, or St. Johns, about twenty-seven miles south of this city, where 

 plums are largely cultivated. 



present classification. Many of these species arc considerably misplaced -according to 

 my theory hut I am determined to make no statement that cannot he upheld by archi- 

 tectural form and structure. 



