1903 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23 



mologists across the line in the United States, and were able to take advantage of any good 

 remedial treatment as soon as the announcement was made in the United States. Our older 

 observers kept in clos3 touch with the best observers in the United States, by personal corre- 

 spondence about the insects of their respective districts. 



When one attempts to give the history of Economic Entomology of Ontario he is disposed 

 to divide the time into Epochs. The first E^joch we may term the Primary Epoch, inasmuch 

 as the first settlers were but little troubled with insect pests ; the country was but sparsely 

 settled ; and no notice was taken of the toll levied by the insect marauderi, if there were any. 

 This Epoch extended from the first settlement of the Province up to 1850. _ _ 



The second Epoch may be called the Second(i7-y Epoch. The sons of the early settlers had 

 now control of the best farms of the Province ; another lot of settlers was pouring in from the 

 Old Land to occupy the newly-surveyed township?, and the farmers of the older districts for 

 the first time felt the attacks of injurious insects. It was the Epoch when the Wheat Midge, 

 the Hessian Fly, and the Pea-Weevil caused almost wide-spread destruction of the farm crops. 

 It was the Epoch when the Legislature of the day was compelled to take cognizance of Entomo- 

 logy, and to oflFer prizes tor the best written Essays containing the best remedial treatment 

 against these insects. Too little was known as to the life-historie3 of insects in genera\ and of 

 these pests in particular, to expect much from these pioneers in applied entomology ; but the 

 importance of this governmental encouragement was that attention was strongly drawn to the 

 fact that there were remedies against insect pests as there wei-e against the ailments of man 

 and beast. Entomological workers were encouraged to continue their work, for they saw 

 official recognition of their best labors. As a result of this we have no doubt the founding of 

 the Entomological Society of Ontario in 1863 by a small band of devoted and enthusiastic 

 young men who had faith in the future. We have but two or three members of this first lot 

 left, but we admire them for the amount of work which they have done, for the way they have 

 gradually W(jn the recogn-ition (.f the Legislature and the people. This Epoch extends from 

 1850 to 1875. 



The third Epoch may be called the Tertiary Epoch of the Entomological history of the 

 Province. The chief characteristic of this Epoch is the introduction of remedial measures 

 founded upon a fairly complete knowledge of the insect pests of the farm, orchard and garden. 

 The early seventies saw the gradual introduction of Paris Green as a poison fcr mandibulate or 

 biting insects, but it re(|uired many years of patient experimentation to determine the best 

 proportions to use, and the best methods of applying the substances to the insect and the plant. 

 Later, London Purple was tried as a substitute, but it has not held its own with Paris Green, 

 from the fact that its composition was liable to conside able variation in the amount of soluble 

 arsenic. 



This Epoch saw also the introduction of kerosene emulsion against sucking insects, and 

 Bordeaux mixture to control fungous diseases. 



Coincident with the adoption of these new insecticides was the development of machinery 

 and apparatus for the application of the insecticides. The history of spraying machinery furnia 

 a very interesting chapter in Economic Entomology, 1 ut I shall not deal with it here. Suffice 

 it to say that the success of the investigations of to-day may be largely attributed to the excel- 

 lent appliances which are at our disposal. 



This was tke Epoch of expeiimentation along scientific lines, for the studies of the previous 

 Epoch had made us ready for such work. 



This Epi)ch extends from 1875 to 1900, and we have now entered upon another, which 

 may be termed the Quaternarij. It is hard to surmise what the future has in store for us in 

 the way of improvemtnts in applied entomology, but I feel that if scientific entomology works 

 hand in hand with chemistry and physiology, many surprises are in store for us. I feel that 

 something will be done towards a simplification of the common formulre now in general use. 



