100 THE REPORT OF THE No lO 



The Season of 1901. 



The season of 1901 in almost all parts of Canada has been characterised as " poor " by 

 nearly all collectors heard from. Of those who have favoured me with notes, there are only two- 

 who have made satisfying collections, either as to species or as to numbers of specimens, viz. Mr. 

 A. F. Winn, of Montreal, Que., and Mr. J. D. Evans, at Trenton, Ont. Such reports as " The 

 poorest year I have ever known," " Remarkable for the absence of good species ", "I never took . 

 so few good things", "Insects of all kinds scarce", etc., are almost universal. The only 

 exceptions to this general statement in the reports received, were with regard to the unusual 

 abundance in the West of Pyrameis cardui and P. atalanta and through the whole of Canada of 

 Pieris rapa . In all parts of Ontario, the noticeable insect of the season was the Birch-Tree 

 Skeletonizer {Bucculatrix camidensisella). In Manitoba and the North-west Territories the 

 moths of Noctua dandestina were found during July in myriads inside houses, to which the^ 

 had doubtless been attracted by lights. 



Literature. 



Bibliographical notes on entomology appear regularly in all entomological journals and 

 scientific magazines, such as " The Canadian Entomologist," " The Ottawa Naturalist," "Ento- 

 mological News," " The American Naturalist," " Science," etc. These are all indispensable to 

 the working entomologist. 



Howard (L. O.) — " The Insect Book." An event of very great importance as aftecting the 

 whole subject of entomology is the recent publication of Dr. Howard's "Insect Book." Up to- 

 the present time, the one great obstacle in the way of lovers of natural history devoting their 

 attention to the study of insects, was the fact that there was no single elementary work of 

 moderate price, which would enable a beginner to identify and classify his captures. This want' 

 has been to a large measure supplied by Dr. Howard, with his most useful work. Copiously 

 illustrated and written in untechnical language, it has already commended itself to a great many 

 beginners, especially boys and girls, and will I feel confident, together with Dr. Holland's beau- 

 tiful "Butterfly Book," do more to attract students to entomology as a recreation and study, 

 than all the works which have preceded it. Beginners have now a starting point from which 

 they can easily make an appreciable advance towards a knowledge of most of our common forms; 

 of insect life. The beetles and moths are now the only insects reijuiring treatment in the same 

 manner, and it is to be sincerely hoped that before long this lack will also be supplied. Some 

 deficiencies of minor importance, in the Insect Book, due to hurried publication, will doubtless s 

 disappear in the next edition. 



Important monographic works will be dealt with under the Orders of insects to which they 

 refer. Mention, however, may be made here of the splendid report by Prof. J. G. Needham, 

 of Lake Forest University, Illinois, on the " Aquatic Insects of the Adirondacks," lately issued by 

 Dr. E. P. Felt, State Entomologist of New York, a charming report of excellent and original 

 work in an almost unworked field, and one which is very suggestive as to desiderata, with regard 

 to which facts may be supplied by workers in all parts of the country. A valuable feature of 

 this work, as in the Insect Book, is the number of suggestions which are made as to useful lines- 

 of work which may be taken up to supply unknown data in the lives of well known insects. 



General Collectors. 



Most collectors of insects, as their material accumulates, specialize their efforts and devote 

 their attention to one or two orders. There are a few, however, who keep up their general col- 

 lections and who are always glad to correspond and exchange specimens in all orders. This, of 



