200 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Jan. 



butions to the reports and to the Canadian Entomologist, includ- 

 ing presidential addresses, were numerous and varied, and testify 

 to his great ability and industry. 



We became members of the Ottawa Literary and Scientific 

 Society in November 1877, and in the following April he was 

 elected Curator, an office which he held for six years, when pres- 

 sure of other duties obliged him to resign from the Council, 

 although he continued his membership long after his residence at 

 the Farm made it impossible for him to visit the rooms, or avail 

 himself of the advantages of the society. In 1879 he took part in 

 a conversazione which discussed the value of a classical educa- 

 tion and read a paper on the affirmative, and he always held and 

 expressed the view that a knowledge of greek and latin was of 

 very great advantage, especially to scientific students. 



In May 1878, in company with Mr. T. V. Macdonald (Bank 

 of B.N. A.) and Mr. Rinfret (Quebec Bank), we occupied a 

 house on the hill beyond Billings ' Bridge, where a most delightful 

 summer was passed, all too rapidly. Macdonald, to his deep 

 regret, was soon transferred to Montreal, but his place was taken 

 later by the Rev. Mr. Patton. Here we pursued our entomolog- 

 ical and botanical studies, and led by no means an idle or unprofi- 

 table life. Usually we had to walk to and from the city, but the 

 road was then less monotonous for nature-lovers than it is now. 

 1^ The city extended not much beyond Maria St. and thence 

 Bank St. was but a country highway. Where the McLeod St. 

 church now stands we had to pay toll for the transport of our 

 chattels, while westward stretched a rich collecting ground known 

 as Stewart 's Bush, through which we often strayed on our home- 

 ward way. Grouse and other game were still not uncommon in the 

 thick coverts and swampy glades, and both the fauna and flora 

 were unusually varied. Patterson's Creek was a pleasant stretch of 

 water, and in our canoe we could paddle under the Bank St. 

 bridge to a brook which entered some distance above. Beyond 

 the creek a high board fence enclosed the race track on the Glebe, 

 within which was a swamp with many plants which can now be 

 only obtained far from the city. On the roadside, near the creek, 

 was the old twin pine, a prominent landmark, in whose shade we 

 frequently rested. 



Fletcher was indefatigable in his botanizing and the results 

 of his labours then and in the adjoining years appeared in his 

 Flora Ottawaensis of 1879-1880. It might truly be said that :— 

 " Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn 

 Brushing with hasty feet the dew away. " 



After two or three hours along the river, or through the fields 

 and woods, gathering plants, hunting insects, listening to the 

 morning melodies of the birds and examining their nests, and pok- 



