180 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



The report of the Scientific Curator and Rec. -Secretary was 

 then read as follows : 



REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC CURATOR. 



A large part of the time during the past session has been de- 

 voted to the completion, as far as possible, of the re-classification 

 of the Society's collection of Canadian insects. Since the cabinet 

 was first arranged, in 1865, numbers of new specimens have 

 been added, and these were, from time to time, pinned into any 

 convenient place, until the whole should be re-arranged. Cata- 

 logues of the coleoptera of the island of Montreal have been pub- 

 lished by Mr. D'Urban and the late Mr. A. S. Ritchie, in the 

 Canadian Naturalist. These collectively make up a list of 

 about 300 species. Mr. Ritchie's collection, which was speci- 

 ally valuable as having been named by Drs. Horn and Leconte, is 

 now in the possession of the London branch of the Entomological 

 Society of Canada. The first step taken towards an entire re- 

 arrangement of the Society's rather extensive collection of Cana- 

 dian beetles was to compile a MSS. catalogue, based on the lists 

 referred to above, of the species so far known to inhabit the 

 island of Montreal. During the past few years Mr. Caulfield, 

 Mr. Passmore, and myself, have given a good deal of spare time 

 (mostly Saturday afternoons in summer), to the collection of 

 local coleoptera. We have been able to add about 80 identified 

 species to the lists already published, while a number of speci- 

 mens remain yet to be named. After completing this MSS. list, 

 4 drawers in the cabinet were selected and spaces, with a printed 

 label to each, were allotted for every species known to inhabit 

 the Island. Efforts have been made to fill these spaces with 

 new and high pinned specimens, and the result has been that 

 193 species were obtained. The important collection recently 

 presented by Mr. Billings, has been removed from the collecting 

 boxes in which it was originally contained, and the insects pinned 

 into the cabinet. The remainder of the collection consists of 

 such specimens as are not in either of the two previously men- 

 tioned series. This part of the cabinet, which was previously in 

 a state of chaotic confusion, is now in very fair order, all dupli- 

 cates having been rejected, also specimens without either locality 

 or name. The Coleoptera now fill 7 drawers, in three separate 

 series, as follows : 



