36 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



February 26th, after an illness of six months. His services for us will be 

 long remembered, and his kind attention will not soon be forgotten by those 

 who had occasion to use the collections and books of the Society. 



I am sure we were all pleased when Dr. Bethune consented to assume the 

 duties of Librarian and Curator, in addition to his other duties as Editor of 

 the Canadian Entomologist. 



It is the privilege of the President to review the progress of Entomology, 

 and to note the chief entomological contributions of the past year. In my 

 last year's address I reviewed the progress of Economic Entomology in Onta- 

 rio during the last fifty years. It is unnecessary to state at the outset that 

 i^ is impossible to deal with Ontario or Canada apart from our great neighbor 

 to the south of us. In Entomology, as in other branches of science, the two 

 countries are one, and there are no boundaries between them. The very fact 

 that some of the prominent United States entomologists are present at our 

 Annual Meetings, and some of our members at theirs is strong evidence that 

 we are working together to the same end. On account, however, of their vast- 

 ly greatly appropriations and facilities for entomological investigations, they 

 have taken the lead, and we have come to look to them for both inspiration 

 and suggestion, in the prosecution of our work. 



Great problems have come up for solution in the last few years both in 

 Canada and United States. The first problem to which I shall refer was the 

 control of the San Jose Scale. Hundreds of investigators have been study- 

 ing this insect with the object of finding simple, effective methods of de- 

 stroying it. During the progress of the investigations many new insecticides 

 have been tried, and new spraying machinery has been contrived, with the 

 result that our knowledge of insecticides has greatly increased. Among the 

 many insecticides prepared, one in particular may be mentioned on account 

 3f its cheapness and effectiveness. This is the lime-sulphur solution, which 

 is now almost universally used in controlling the scale. Incidentally, also, 

 it was found that it possessed fungicidal properties of great value, and it is 

 now possible to control the Peach leaf-curl at the same time that the scale is 

 treated. 



Experiments are now in progress to find an easier method of preparing 

 the lime-sulphur solution, which many fruit-growers' found difficult to make. 



It would appear that many important additions to our knowledge of in- 

 secticides and fungicides may be looked for in the near future, for the ento- 

 mologist is now working in co-operation with the chemist and physiologist. 



The second problem to which much attention is now being given, is the 

 determining of the value of parasites in the controlling of injurious insects. 

 As you all know, there are entomologists who believe that there is no need 

 of spraying to control insects. They bring forward the evident fact that a 

 balance is maintained in wild nature, through the operation of parasites and 

 predaceous animals when there is a limited food supply, and that man has in- 

 terfered with the order of things by his clearing of the land and his planting 

 of large areas, and by his ruthless destruction of birds and other animals 

 which prey upon injurious forms. These entomologists believe that in time, 

 the balance would again be established; that the beneficial forms would keep 

 the injurious forms under control. The main objection to this argument is 

 that the establishing of this balance is slow, too slow for the farmer and 

 gardener who would lose heavily during the return swing of the balance. 



Moreover, when foreign pests are the disturbers of the balance, many 

 years may be required to bring them under control, for it is well-known that 

 predaceous forms tend to leave foreio^n pests severely alone; they have, as it 

 were, an aversion to imported food. It becomes necessary then, in such 



