90 



The Ottawa Naturalist. [August 



been previously accidentally introduced from the same country. He 

 showed how more recently the same insect had been introduced 

 into the Hawaiian Islands, Egypt, Cape Colony and Portugal 

 with equally beneficial results. He described other importations 

 of beneficial insects into the United States, and dwelt at some 

 length upon his recent introduction and establishment in California 

 oi Blasiophaga grossorum, the well known fertilizer of the Smyrna 

 fig crop in oriental regions. 



He then took up briefly the subject of insects as carriers of 

 disease, reviewing the many instances in which the function of 

 insects in this direction has been recently proved. He dwelt more 

 especially on the relations between mosquitoes and malaria, in- 

 dicating comparatively the biology of Culex and that of Anopheles, 

 showing for the first time a series of pictures illustrating a com- 

 plete life-round oi Anopheles quadrimaculatus. He also spoke at 

 some length on the carriage of typhoid germs and the germs of 

 other diseases of the alimentary tract by flies, showing a number 

 ot illustrations of dipterous insects reared from human excreta. 



Dr. Howard closed his address with the exhibition of a num- 

 ber of slides relating to protective resemblance and protective 

 mimicry, many of which were entirely new. 



The chair was taken by the Patron of the L-lub, His Excel 

 lency the Governor-General of Canada, who at the end of the 

 lecture spoke in highly appreciative terms of the manner in which 

 so much useful information had been presented to the audience. 

 A hearty v^ote of thanks was proposed by the Hon. Sidney Fisher, 

 the Minister of Agriculture, who complimented the audience on 

 having had an opportunity of hearing Dr. Howard's delightful 

 lecture. He reminded them of the great losses suff"ered every 

 year by farmers from the attacks made upon their crops and live 

 stock by injurious insects. He was much pleased to notice the 

 growing appreciation of the science of economic entomology 

 among all classes. The yearly losses among farm crops were 

 enormous. For instance, it had been estimated that the annual 

 loss in the United States of America alone footed up the astonish- 

 ing amount of $300,000,000, while in Canada the loss has been 

 placed at not less than ten per cent, of every crop that is grown. It 

 is, however, now well known that much of this loss can be pre- 



