86 REPORT OF No. 19 



these insects in clearing the trees of their enemies was, however, only re- 

 warded by these themselves proving a prey to another of nature's factors in 

 preserving the balance of life. A very small percentage of these pupae gave 

 forth the beetles; instead, most of the pupse produced a swarm of minute 

 hymenopterous parasites. 



Elm trees were badly attacked by the Woolly Elm-leaf Aphis, 

 which, during the month of June, curled up the leaves of the elms 

 used as shade trees, and made sidewalks and seats, or even walking 

 beneath the trees, most unpleasant, owing to the showers of honey-dew which 

 constantly fell from the clusters of plant lice. The Elm Soft-scale, 

 Lecanium canadense, was also abundant and destructive in many places. 

 The White Cedar or American Arbor-vitse was seriously disfigured by the 

 attacks of two minute moths, Argyresthia thuieUa, Packard, and in far less 

 numbers Recurvaria thujaella, Kearf. The injuries to these trees were bo 

 severe throughout the Ottawa district, both on private grounds and in the 

 woods, as to give a rusty sickly appearance to all of the white cedars by 

 reason of the large number of tips of young twigs which had been killed by 

 the caterpillars boring inside them in autumn and again in the following 

 spring after reviving. The minute caterpillars lived singly in a small 

 twi'g, and each one was able to destroy a surprisingly large amount of green 

 growth. The beautiful little moths, silvery white with brown markings, 

 were found flying in clouds around the trees during the latter half of June. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD, 1906. 



By Dr. James Fletcher, Dominion Entomologist, and Arthur Gibson, 



Ottawa. 



Judging from reports which have come to hand in connection with the 

 Entomological Record, there has apparently been rather less enthusiasm 

 than heretofore among collectors of insects in Canada during the past sea- 

 son. The personality and energy of Mr. R. Y. Harvey, of Vancouver, have 

 been effective in stirring up an unusual interest in all orders of insects' in 

 our Pacific province ; and, as vSecretary of the British Columbia Entomo- 

 logical Society, he has issued three most interesting quarterly bulletins, in 

 which are valuable records of captures and items of entomological news, 

 which will be useful for reference by all who take up the study of British 

 Columbian insects. We trust that these bulletins will be continued regu- 

 larly, and that all the members of the Society will see the advantage of 

 promptly and regularly communicating to the secretary items bearing upon 

 the provincial insect launa. 



Reports as to the nature of the season in 1906 were of a very diverse 

 nature and were evidently much affected by local conditions. As an in- 

 stance of this, the writers found sugaring for moths remarkably unremuner- 

 ative at the Experimental Farm, Ottawa, while two other collectors, Mr. 

 J. W. Baldwin, at Britannia Bay, about six miles west, and Mr. C. H. 

 Young, at Meach Lake, fifteen miles north, noted the abundance of night 

 flying moths at sugar. The suggested local cause affecting the question at 

 the Experimental Farm, was that there was a remarkable outbreak of 

 aphides on almost all kinds of trees and shrubs in the early part of the sea- 

 son, by which all foliage was thickly coated with honey dew, which proved 

 more attractive to the moths than the treacle put on the trees. However, 

 as is always the case, steady collecting was rewarded with many treasures. 



