1898] Entomology— Notes for April. 59 



Of moths I have hardly made any notes this season, but I 

 remember seeing Hemaris rubens (which is a very common in- 

 sect with us, the larvai feeding on Symphoricarpiis) in the last 

 week of March. Towards the end of April I cut some pupae of 

 Sesia tipulifotniis from my currant bushes and on the last day 

 of the month I bred a fine specimen of Telca Polyphemus from 

 one of three larvse taken on willow last September. 



A along the Ilviiienoptera our enemy Gyninonychus appendicU- 

 iatas appeared on April ist and all through the month has been 

 busy oripositing on the currant and gooseberry bushes. Two other 

 saw tlies, Strongylogaster distans and Dolerus striceus have also 

 been abundant; but I think they do not meddle with our 

 cultivated plants. Wasps and bees have been in hundreds and 

 in thousands at the gooseberry blossoms (both wild and culti- 

 vated kinds) but as yet I know not their names. Of ants I have 

 collected nearly 20 kinds but these too are as yet undetermined. 

 I have also found under bark some other curious apterous 

 Hymenoptera which I intend to send to Mr. Harrington in my 

 next box. 



In other orders I have not taken many species. The 



smaller of our two kinds of Cicada appeared on April 13th, very 



much in advance of its usual season. Our earliest and smallest 



grasshopper [Tettix granulatus I believe) has been swarming 



since the beginning of the month and I have also taken a few 



specimens of another orthopterous insect, to wit the curious little 



cricket Mrvniecophila Oregonensis described and figured by 



Bruner in Can. Ent. XVI. p. 41-43. These 1 found under bark 



of fir logs apparently associating with a honey-coloured species 



of ant. 



But I must stop this lengthy enumeration, having said 

 enough I am sure to show my Ottawa brothers of the Ottawa 

 Field Naturalists' Club that April has not been an unprofitable 

 month for us Entomologically in Vancouver Island and to make 

 you, Mr, Editor, wish that you could have a little of our British 

 Columbia early spring in exchange for some of your prolonged, 

 but healthy and pleasant Ottawa winter. 



Gabriola Island, Nanaimo, B.C., 

 May 18, 1898. 



