C|e Canadian Entomologist. 



VOL. III. 



LONDON, ONT., JULY, 1871 



NO. 3. 



REPORT OF MESSRS. W. SAUNDERS AND E. B. REED, ON 

 THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE— 



Doryphora 10 lincata — Say. 



London, Ont., June, 187 1. 



To the Honorable John Carting, Commissioner of Agriculture and Public 



Works for the Province of Ontario : 



Sir — In compliance with instructions from your Department, dated 

 June 10th, 187 i, " to visit, without delay, as many of the localities on the 

 Western frontiers of this Province as are most affected by the ravages of 

 the Colorado Potato Beetle ; to examine the nature and extent of the 

 attack ; to make such experiments, with a view to the cure or arrest of 

 the malady, as our observations and judgment might suggest, and to report 

 to your Department the result of our labors, that the same might be sub- 

 mitted to the public forthwith, for general information ;" we beg leave to 

 submit the following Report :— 



LOCALITIES. 



We have visited a large portion of the Western frontier of the Province, 

 and have also procured reliable information from many other localities 

 throughout Western Ontario, and are thus enabled to form a tolerably 

 accurate estimate of the spread of the insect, and also of the present state 

 of the potato crop in those regions now affected by this pest. 



NECESSITY FOR INVESTIGATION. 



We are fully satisfied, from personal observation, that the current 

 newspaper reports respecting the enormous numbers of these insects which 

 have crossed into Canada from the State of Michigan are but little, if at 

 all, exaggerated ; and that the evils resulting from this invasion are already 

 of sufficient magnitude to excite serious alarm respecting the safety of a 

 crop which is so indispensable to all classes of the community ; and we 



