24 



THE REPORT OF THE 



No. 19 



NOTES ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR. 

 Division No. I. — Ottawa District. — By C. H. Young, Hurdman's Bridge. 



When Dr. Fletcher informed me on his return from the annual meeting of the Society in 

 November of last year that I had been elected Director for the Ottawa district, I indeed felt 

 greatly honoured at being appointed a member of the Council of such an important Society. 



I regret however that owing to the remarkable absence, from a general standpoint, of all 

 kinds of insects during the past season, that I was unable to make as many observations as I had 

 hoped. 



Tent caterpillars which had been so prevalent and destructive of late years in the Ottawa 

 district were very scarce, and although I was on the look out for them, I failed to locate more 

 than one nest — this on a wild plum tree. 



The most abundant pest was the White Cabbage Butterfly (tig. 9), which occurred in 

 remarkable numbers near my farm. In fact they were 

 so prevalent at the end of June that they gave a 

 decidedly white appearance to the fields when flying : 

 as if a heavy fall of snow was in progress, or as if 

 many people had torn up handfuls of small pieces of 

 white paper and scattered them at the same time 

 through the air. One of my neighbours had a great 

 quantity of wild mustard growing in his fields, and 

 the larvae were very abundant on these plants, and 

 ate everything except the stems and flowers. They 

 were, of course, very destructive to cabbages, and as 

 soon as my neighbor set out his young plants the 

 female butterflies immediately began to lay eggs on 

 them, which in due course hatched, and the larvae 

 quickly devoured the foliage. I advised my friend 

 in time to dust his plants with pyrethrum insect 

 powder, but as he considered that this was too 

 expensive an operation he did not do anything and 

 as a result lost all his plants. In August the larvae 



of the later brood were also very prevalent on turnips. I examined numbers of plants and was 

 pleased to notice that a bacterial disease was at work among the larvae, most of them were dead 

 and in a putrid condition. 



Fig. 9. White cabbage butteitly— 

 a, larva ; b, chrysalis. 



>«"' 



Fig. 10. Canker-worm— a, male moth ; 

 b, female. 



Fig. 11. Canker-worm, eggs 

 aarl larva. 



In the spring of the year Canker-worm larvae (Anisopteryx pometaria) (figs. 10 and 11) were 

 very abundant, especially on forest trees. Basswood and beech seemed to suffer most as far as 

 I observed. 



