1912 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 55 



summer diarrhoea of children is now a matter of common knowledge. Fortunately 

 our northern climate renders us comparatively free from the parasitic diseases 

 that are habitually transmitted by insects, but we have the house-fly question 

 ever before us and our domestic animals are all more or less subject to diseases 

 caused or carried by insects, mites and ticks, and there is much to be learned 

 about the life-histories and methods of control of such forms. 



Finally, we should at least mention that important aspect of entomology 

 which regards the study of insects not for its own sake nor in its relation to the 

 material needs of mankind, but in relation to the broader science of biology. 

 Insects have contributed some of the most striking illustrations of many of the 

 phenomena that have served to establish the truth of the theory of descent, and 

 have furnished useful material in the investigation of the problems of heredity 

 and the causes of variation and in the analysis of sex. But though these questions 

 are from the standpoint of pure science, vastly more important than any of those 

 we have been considering, they belong rather to the domain of general biology 

 than to entomology, so that we may dismiss them, merely with the comment 

 that they represent an immense field for investigation, full of possibilities of 

 important discovery. 



The thought of all there is to do in Canada in entomology, and the com- 

 parative ease with which new discoveries can be made here should act as a 

 stimulus to the young student. I say " comparatively " advisedly, for it must not 

 be thought that any good entomological work can be done easily. It is just 

 as diflBcult, nay more so, to do really good work in a virgin field, as in one that has 

 been long and carefully investigated. The new field has only the advantage of 

 opportunity. The field in entomology in Canada, from the scientific, if not yet 

 from the financial standpoint, is full of opportunity, and we believe that the next 

 decade will witness a steady increase in the demand for the services of well- 

 trained, practical investigators. 



Much, we believe, will be done to encourage Canadian Entomology by the 

 publication of the new Catalogue of Canadian insects, which is now in the course 

 of preparation. Now that the question of publication is settled — and the thanks 

 of all of us are due to Dr. Hewitt for bringing this about — it is to be hoped 

 that each and every one of the collaborators will do his utmost to make the 

 catalogue a success and that every collector in Canada may do something to help in 

 making it as complete as possible. In this way we can all do a little for the 

 advancement of entomology in Canada. 



SOME INJURIOUS FOEEST INSECTS AT DE GRASSI POINT, 



LAKE SIMCOE. 



E. M. Walker, Toronto, Ont. 



During the pr.ist three years I have spent a part of each summer at De Grassi 

 Point, Lake Simcoe, Ont., where I have been gathering part of the nucleus of a 

 collection of forest insects >and their work for the Museum of the Faculty of Forestry 

 in tihe University of Toronto. 



During the season of 1911 this work was greatly accelerated by what was in 

 all other respects a most unfortunate calamity. On June 11 the Point was visited 

 by a terrific windstorm, which wrought great havoc in the woods in this neigh- 



