[igoo Gibson — Some Interesting Moths. 13 



SOME INTERESTING MOTHS TAKEN AT OTTAWA. 



By Arthur Gibson, Central ExperIxMental Farm. 



(Read at meeting held 12th Dec, 1899.) 



The Order Lepidoptera is divided into two sub-orders, viz. : 

 Rhopalocera and Heterocera, or in other vi^ords, Butterflies and 

 Moths. 



In America, north of Mexico, there are over 5,400 diff'erent 

 distinct species of moths, all of which have their interest, some on 

 account of their size, some on account of their beautiful marking's, 

 and others on account of their rarity. In other words, each has 

 its own peculiar interest to the student or to the collector. To 

 a person not interested in entomology, specimens mounted and 

 arranged neatly in a cabinet, generally attract attention ; but to 

 the student this interest is aroused not only on account of this 

 charm, but chiefly centres around those species about which little 

 is known, either with regard to the earlier stages in their life 

 histories, or in connection with the mature forms of these insects. 

 Of course, the systematist is especially interested in classifying 

 as complete a collection of specimens as he can possibly 

 gather together, studying them and making known the result of 

 his observations as to their points of diff"erence and the character- 

 istics peculiar to each genus and species. In later years more 

 work has been done by the student studying the earlier stages of 

 our moths, telling us the appearance of the eggs laid by the 

 females, what the larvae in their diff'erent moults look like, what 

 is the shape, colou'-, et:., of the pupa^ and cocoons, in fact every- 

 thing bearing upon a complete knowledge of the earlier stages of 

 these insects. 



Very few new moths are found nowadays, except in localities 

 where collectors are few. There are, however, in Canada many 

 places which have never been worked up, and, if these points were 

 visited and collections made, undoubtedly new species would 

 be discovered. But it must be remembered that this branch of 

 natural science is sadly neglected by naturalists, only a very small 

 ni mber being really interested in entomology from a scientific 

 standpoint, notwithstanding its enormous importance economically. 



