10 



which interfere with the fixity of nomenclature. A report of these important meetings 

 will be found in the Entomohgist ; we commend them to the careful perusal of our readers. 

 Our own Society was well represented in this gathering by the presence of the Rev. C. 

 J. S. Beth line, M.A., E. Baynos Reed, and your President. 



I shall not attempt, gentlemen, to trespa.ss longer on your time and patience. Thank- 

 ing you for your kind partiality in electing me to fill so important an office among you, 



I have the honour to be, very sincerely yours, 



Wm. SAtTNDERS. 



London, September, 187G. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



Your committee take much pleasure in reporting the great success which has attend- 

 ed the enterprise of which they have had charge, a succe.ss indeed greater than the most 

 sanguine had anticipated. On entering upon our labours the magnitude of the under- 

 taking was such, that we felt some misgivings. To get together such a collection as 

 would do credit to our Society and to the Province we have the honour to represent, in 

 so short a time as that allotted to us was felt to be no mean task, but having resolved to 

 do our best, work was begun without delay. 



On mature deliberation it was thought best to bring together in London, all the 

 insects that could be procured from the collections of all our members in Canada, and 

 there making the Society's rooms our head-quarters, to assort and arrange them as experi- 

 ence might suggest. Our first attention was given to the preparation of suitable cases in 

 which to place our specimens, which should be as near as possible dust-proof and pest-proof 

 It was finally determined to adopt the form of case used in the Zoological Museum, at 

 Cambridge, Mass., with some slight modifications ; and having been furnished through 

 the kindness of Professor Hagen, with a sample case as a pattern, we had but little 

 further difficulty in this matter. To secure the specimens against injury during the 

 transportation to so great a distance, we thought it necessar}' that the bottoms of the 

 cases should be lined with cork of extra thickness, so that when the pins on which the 

 specimens were mounted were thrust into it they should be held firmly in place. We 

 accordingly ordered from a cork factory in Manchester, England, a sufficient supply for 

 this purpose, of double the ordinary thickness, and when the drawers were lined with this 

 cork, and the pins firmly inserted, it was almost impossible with any ordinary amount of 

 jarring or shaking to displace them. 



The work to be done on the Coleoptera was very laborious. This was kindlj"^ under- 

 taken by Mr. Johnson Pettit, of Grimsby, and to his labours and kind contributions of 

 material, we are indebted for much of the success of our enterprise. The writer under- 

 took the work needed on the Lepidoptera ; Mr. E. B. Reed devoted his attention to the 

 Hemiptera and Diptera ; Mr. Geddes, to the Ilymenoptera ; and Mr. J. M. Denton, to 

 Orthoptera. By this division the labour was lightened, and the work progressed rapidly. 

 The following collections in London were placed entirely at our disposal, ^^z : — Those of 

 Messr.s. W. Saunders, E. B. Reed, J. M. Denton, G. Geddes, H. B. Bock, W. E. Saunders, 

 and J. Williams. Large stores of valuable specimens were forwarded by Mr. Pettit. 

 Messrs. William Murray, and J. Moffatt, of Hamilton, sent some very handsome Lepi- 

 doptera, and Mr. H. Cojvdry, of Toronto, contributed to the Coleoptera. Our members 

 in Montreal were also very prompt and liberal in responding to our appeal. Mr. Wm. 

 Couper donated a large number of specimens, while a great many additional were loaned 

 by Messrs. F. B. Caulfield, C. W. and G. B. Pearson, H. H. Lyman, P. Keutzing, G. J. 

 Bowles, W. Hibbins, J. T. Whiteaves, indeed without their help we should have been 

 entirely without repre.sentatives of many species restricted to the eastern portions of our 

 Dominion. Added to all these were the specimens already contained in our Society's 

 cabinets in London. 



In due time the collection was completed and ready for shipment. It consisted of 

 eighty-six cases, twenty-seven of which were filled with Coleoptera, forty-five with Lepi- 



