1 G8 . Deceiubcr, 1877 



The reader commented upon this remarkable and quite unexpected result, 

 and alluded, in connection therewith, to the fact that Prof. Oliver had deter- 

 mined over sixty species of flowering plants from the same region. Capt. 

 Feilden had furnished useful notes on habits, &c. About one month in each year 

 was the longest period in which it was possible for insects, and especially but- 

 terflies, to appear in the perfect state, and six weeks was the limit for plant- 

 feeding larvae, hence it was considered probable that more than one year was 

 necessary for the undergoing of all their transformations, though the continuous day 

 in the short summer would favour butterfly larvse, as it did the pei'fect insects, 

 which were on the wing all the twenty-four hours, and were often more common at 

 " midnight " than at mid-day, supposing the sun's face not to be obscured by clouds 

 or snow-showers. Many Lepidopterous larvse were found in the stomachs of gulls 

 and terns, and many must fall victims to the attacks of parasitic Hymenofiera and 

 Diptera. Of the species of the latter order, the most interesting points were the 

 occurrence of " blow-flies," if ofl^al were thrown away, or the carcase of a musk- 

 ox lay on the ground, and the time of appearance of the genus Trichocera, which, 

 though known with us as the " winter-gnat," was there necessarily found only after 

 midsummer. 



After alluding to the evidences of a Miocene Flora once existing near the North 

 Pole, that must strongly have resembled that now possessed by the Southern States 

 of America, it was contended that this was followed by an " Arctic," or circum-polar, 

 Flora (and Fauna) , which culminated before the glacial epoch ; when the Polar ice-cap 

 began to move southward it destroyed this Fauna, or drove what remained of it 

 before it ; on the recurrence of an increasing temperature, the survivors began to 

 move northward ; some settled on the tops of high mountains and established the 

 existing Alpine Fauna, whereas stragglers reached the home of their ancestors in 

 the Arctic regions and became the progenitors of the species now occurring there. 

 What is practically this theory was first advanced in 1816 by Edward Forbes, and 

 has since, in a more or less modified form, been accepted by Darwin, Lyell, Hooker, 

 and others in England, and by Packard, Grote, &c., in America. The introductory 

 remarks were concluded with a brief notice on the causes of the great variability 

 exhibited in both Alpine and Arctic insects, which it was considered might be due 

 partly to an enforced lengthened period in the undergoing of tlieir transformations, 

 and especially to the elements of isolation or segregation that necessarily exist. 



A selection of the insects collected was exhibited, and Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited 

 some species captured by him at between 7,000' and 8,000' on the Alps, showing the 

 great resemblance in the Arctic and Alpine forms. 



Captain Feilden, in making some observations, called especial attention to the 

 extent to which insect life is destroyed by birds, and exhibited microscopic slides of 

 the contents of the stomachs of several birds, which consisted almost entirely of 

 insect remains. 



Dr. Eae alluded to the abundance of butterflies in the northern parts of the 

 Hudson Bay Territory. 



Sir G-. Nares, in saying a few words on the conditions under which insects 

 maintain an existence in these high latitudes, alluded especially to the uniform tem- 

 perature maintained beneath the snow, and considered that this no doubt acted 

 beneficially. He also alluded to the amount of daylight in the brief summer j taking 

 a given period, there was as much actual daylight as in England. 



Dr. Trimen made some remarks on the botanical features of the district. Dr. 

 Murie and others also took part in the discussioft. 



