54 SAMUEL II. SCUDDER ON THE SPREAD 



introduction known. Yet as this could be approximately determined for the Eiu'opean 

 cal)bage butterfly recently imported into this country, aud as by its ravages of a common 

 garden crop it would make itself known by the damage it did and so force itself upon 

 observation, it seemed a favorable opportunity to consider this question, which should 

 not be missed; it was believed indeed that the correct measure of its spread might have 

 some im[)ort for future investigation, and perhaps its lesson for him who would design- 

 edly introduce a new creature without regard to its relations to other animals. 



As the insect has already crossed half the continent, the time has certainly ari'ived 

 to make the necessary inquiries. Every one now knows that it has come to stay and 

 little attention is given to its movements. Most of those who observed it on its first ad- 

 vent can still answer questions regarding its appearance by the aid of notes taken at the 

 time, which later might not be possible. Accordingly, last autumn, I issued a circular to 

 over six hundred persons in dificrent parts of the country with the inquiiy: " In what 

 year, to your personal knowledge, did Pieris rapae first appear in your vicinity?" and 

 asking also for any published data upon the matter. To this inquiry more than two 

 hundred replies were received and from them, from the notes I had previously made based 

 on special written inquiries in 18G9 and 1870, and from various publications, the follow- 

 ing account is drawn up. 



The buttei-fiy was first noticed in Canada and the actual history of our knowledge of 

 its first appearance there is as follows: — Mr. Wm. Couper, a taxidermist and general 

 collector, addicted especially to Lcjiidoptera aud a good observer, living in Que- 

 bec, first captured a few specimens in 1860 in the immediate vicinity of that city; 

 he then looked u]50u the insect as a great rarity, and indigenous to Canada. In 1863 a 

 new collector appeared in Quebec, Mr. G. J. Bowles, Avho, capturing it aud finding no 

 such insect described in American works, applied to Mr. Couper, only to discover him 

 equally at a loss. Mr. Bowles then wi'ote to Mr. AVm. Saunders of London, Ontario, and 

 to myself, aud we both assured him that it was the European insect. Mr. Bowles' letter 

 to me bore date Dec. 23, 1863.^ In April and July 1864, these gentlemen read papers 



before local societies, both of which were ])ublished in whole or in iiart;' from these 

 1863 . . 



we leani that in 1863 the butterfly was very couuuou aud destructive in the neigh- 

 borhood of Quebec aud at Laval fifteen miles north, and had extended thirty miles to the 

 northwest along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, though they had not been noticed 

 beyond Point Levis on the south, nor taken at St. Anne's on the south shore of the St. 

 Lawrence, seventy miles down the river, "where a collector of Lepidoptera resided." 

 From what we know of the rapidity with Avhich a single pair may ])ropagate without 

 hindrance from parasites, we may conclude almost with certainty tliat it was introduced in 

 the early part of 1860, or at the earliest, at the veiy close of 1859. Owing, ai)parcutly, to 

 Mr. Bowles' paper ])ublished in the Canadian Xaturalist in 1864, in which he fixes the 

 period of its introduction to Quebec "at about seven or eight years ago," it has been 

 generally spoken of as introduced "in 1856 or 1857." But Mr. Bowles has allowed more 

 time than is necessary, and records do not go back of 1860, 



' Specimens were also sent to W. II. Edwards in Dec. - For Jlr. Bowles' paper see Bibliography. Mr. C!oiiper's 



18CL', but seem not to have been noticed by liim. appears to have been published only by extract in 1SG7 by 



Mr. Kitchie, Can. Nul. n. s. 3 : 29. 



