] 



Such, gentlemen, are some of the modes in which, I think, we should endeavour to ex- 

 tend the operations of our Society. If each year, when we assemble together for our annual 

 meeting, we can point to some such work done in the previous twelvemonth, we shall have 

 good reason to congratulate ourselves upon re.il permanent progress— upon building up the 

 foundation of an Entomological structure that will prove enduring and substantial in time to 

 come. 



Thus far I have referred to Entomology as a purely scientific pursuit ; there is an- 

 other aspect in which we cannot refrain from regarding it, viz., as a subject of very great 

 economic importance to every inhabitant of our land. This view of Entomology has been 

 especially brought before us of late by the havoc that has been produced in our farms and 

 gardens by hordes of destructive insects. 



The dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle [Dorijphora decem-lineata) has spread eastward with 

 great rapidity, and has now reached the Atlantic coast in some parts of the United States. I 

 have been informed by friends who reside in various parts of the Union, that while little, if 

 any, diminution in the numbers of the pest is to be observed in the west, it is becoming very 

 destructive where it has attained to its second year of colonization. During the fir^st year of 

 its invasion of a particular locality, no appreciable damage is done by it, but as its armies in- 

 crease in geometrical progression, the potato crops of the following season generally suffer to 

 a terrible extent. It has new covered ttie whole of the Province of Ontario, and is very des- 

 tructive throughout the western half of it, though we are happy to say that our intelligent 

 farmers and gardeners are eftectually using the remedies suggested by our colleagues, Messrs. 

 Saunders and Reed, in their Report to the Legislature a few years ago. In Quebec it is Vjut 

 beginning to be observed ; no doubt it will be found there in myriads next year. Across the 

 border, it has penetrated to the western portion of Vermont, into New Jer.sey, down to the 

 sea coast in Pennsylvania, and in Maryland ; at Baltimore, Md., it is very abundant, while 

 straggling outposts have been found as far south as Was'iington. The whole of New York 

 and Ohio have been pretty well covered with the insect, while in Missouri it is as abundant 

 as ever. In Indiana and Michigan there is a local diminution in the numbers of the pest, but 

 no where are there as yet any signs of its cessation. The people of Europe are now beginning 

 — and with good reason — to feel alarmed at the prospect of its crossing the Atlantic. The 

 English and French scientific and agricultural publications are commencing to publish notices 

 of the insect and to talk of restrictive measures, while in Germany, we are told that stringent 

 regulations will probably soon be put in force by the Government to prevent the invasion of 

 the country. Unless some regulations of this kind are put in general force throughout the 

 whole of Western Europe, I believe that — judging from the spread of noxious European in- 

 sects on this side of the Atlantic— the Colorado Beetle will soon become there as familiar an 

 object and as destructive a pest as it is here. 



While the Colorado Beetle from the Rocky Mountains has been overspreading the whole 

 northern continent eastward, there has been moving southward and westward in a similar 

 manner another insect — the Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris rapw) — that is almost as injurious as 

 the other. This insect, an European importation, as of course you all know, starting from 

 Quebec some few years ago — there first noticed by our friends Messrs. Couper and Bowles 

 has now spread westward over almost the whole of Ontario. At Port Hope it has been this 

 year by far the most common of all butterflies ; thousands were to be seen throughout the 

 whole season, from early summer to the present time, flitting about along every road, and 

 hundreds hovering over or alighting in every garden. There is hardly a cabtage or cauli- 

 flower fit to be eaten anywhere in the neighbourhood, while stocks and mignonette have been 

 ruthlessly demolished in all the flower gardens. Its spread westward, however, has hardly 

 been as rapid as its* movements to the south. The two maritime provinces of New Bruns 

 wick and Nova Scotia, and all the New England States, have for some time been occupied, 

 and now I am told that this year it is most plentiful as far south as Washington, and that 

 it is by no means rare in Virginia. 



While referring to the wonderful spread of noxious insects during the past few years, 

 and to their excessive prevalence now. I must not omit to mention the affliction caused to 

 our north-west Province of Manitoba .ind to many of the western States by the swarins of 

 locusts, or grasshoppers as they are termed {Calopte.nus qircius). The accounts of the suf- 

 ferings caused by this terrible plague are perfectly appalling, and riviil anything that we have 

 read of the ravages of the Eastern locusts. Happily for us they do not seem to extend 



