118 



THE REPORT OF THE 



No. 19 



and personally I should like every one (teachers and their pupils, farmers and their young folk 

 are especially welcome) to come at any time to my residence, and inspect, under my supervision, 

 the collections of the Society. There, besides many beautiful insects, they will see represented 

 very many of the noxious and beneficial insects from all parts of the Statvs and Canada, and ' 

 learn the remedies. 



More agricultural societies will also be invited next year to support the Entomological 

 Society. This, as Mr. Peterson observes in his letter, is also a step in the right direction, and 

 in accord with the spirit of the law under which the agricultural societies are formed, and with 

 the sentiment of the Department. The distribution of collections of weed seeds will be extended, 

 and a collection of named pressed noxious weeds themselves will gradually be prepared for each 

 affiliated agricultural society. I am endeavoring to form collections of named noxious and bene- 

 ficial insects for distributi(m in the same way. I want every insect— no matter how many-sent 

 to me for that purpose every year. The Society will provide the cases and pay all necessary 

 postages. It would be my wish to start a museum of weeds and iniects in every school and 

 agricultural society in the Territories if they would only show an active interest in the matter. 

 I have prepared the first of such collections of weeds ; this, if the Lacombe Agricultural So- 

 ciety will accept it, will go there and be kept near the collection of seeds, for public reference. 

 A case of insacts will also shortly be ready for it, and it will not be my fault if there is not also next 

 year the founding of similar collections at the Lacombe school. Turning our attention now to 

 the insects of 1901, I wish first to thank Mr. T. N. Willings, the Territorial Weed Inspector, 

 and the many other gentlemen who have sent me very valuable accounts of insects noticed by 

 them. 



Noticeable Insects of 1901 in Alberta. 



Undoubtedly the most conspicuous feature of the year throughout the whole of Central and 

 Northern Alberta from Olds to Edmonton, and east into parts of Saskatchewan, has been the 

 myriads of dragon flies. In the early part of the year we were threatened with an unusual 

 plague of mosquitoes. The flooded sloughs teemed with their larvae, but very soon after the 

 appearance of the perfect mosquito the dragon flies came on the scene, and during July and 

 August immense numbers filled the country, and in many parts they literally exterminated the 

 mosquito on the wing. Nothing but good has ever been recorded of the dragon fly,— Fig. 57) 

 in fact their mouths are not adapted for eating vegetation, and their larvte and pupte live 

 wholly in water, and in both stages are active, their food being larvi« of mosquitos and other 

 soft-bodied aquatic insects 



Of a different nature, ar.other remarkable occurrence of the season throughout the entire 



North-West from far south of Calgary, and reported by 

 Mr. T. N. Willing, Mr. F. H. Wolley-Dod, Mr. 

 Clare, of Edmonton, and residents in Prince Albert, 

 Grenfell, Beulah (Man.), and elsewhere, has been the 

 very large numbers of caterpillars cf the Painted Lady 

 butterfly {Prtjameis cardui). The favorite food of 

 these caterpillars is Thistle (including — let us be 

 thankful — the Canadian Thistle), Blue Bur and Pasture 

 Sage. Mr. A. J. Dennis, of Beulah, says that, during 

 four consecutive days in the first week of May, there 

 was a continuous flight of these butterflies in a south- 

 easterly direction, with wind blowing from the south. 

 V^'arbles this spring were decidedly more abundant than last year. The deaths of a good 

 many cattle in the early part of the year were, I believe, accelerated, if not diiectly caused by 

 this pest. On one carcase I counted 175 distinct warbles. 



Fig 57.— a Drapon-flf. 



