50 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



The genus Oryssus differs in many important characters from the precedinaj, and the 

 insects have a very different appearance. They are short and cylindrical in form ; black, 

 or with the abdomen partially red ; have the antennre short and geniculated, and in their 

 movements they are extremely alert and active. Four species have been on the Ameri- 

 can lists, but observations which I have made on these insects for several years have con- 

 vinced me that they all belong to one species. The larvtTe live in maples (and possibly in 

 other trees) but it is not known whether they live upon the substance of the tree, or 

 are parasitic upon other wood-boring insects. 



For a satisfactory knowledge of the habits of our Uroceridce, it will be necessary 

 for our entomologists to devote much close attention to the several species. Unfortun- 

 ately the order Hymenoptera has not at present many students, although both from 

 the scientific and economic standpoints there are many reasons why it should be 

 thoroughly investigated. The late Abbe Provancher, whose scientific labors, especially 

 in Entomology, gained for him a membership, which, unhappily he did not long live to 

 enjoy, in your honorable Society, was a zealous worker in this Order, and he described 

 very many of the Canadian species. His death was a great loss to the study of 

 Entomology in Canada, but it is to be hoped that his collections, which contain the 

 types of so many species, may be placed where they will be carefully preserved and 

 accessible to future investigators. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON JAPANESE INSECTS. 



By W. Hague Harrington, Ottawa. 



On my return in November, 1891, from a visit to Japan, I prepared for the annual 

 meeting, held a few days later, a hasty outline of my impressions of the insect fauna of 

 that country. My captures have since been mounted and arranged, and the number of 

 genera and species ascertained, although time has not yet been found to determine the 

 names of the insects. My stay in Japan lasted only ten weeks, and this time was largely 

 occupied in travelling and sightseeing, so that I had few opportunities for systematic 

 collecting, and many of my most interesting specimens were accidental captures. The 

 wealth of the insect fauna is evident, from the fact that under such conditions, and after 

 the most prolific season had passed, six hundred species were taken, Coleoptera constitut- 

 ing one-half, Hymenoptera one-fourth, and miscellaneous insects the remaining fourth. 

 The majority of the specimens were obtained in the vicinity of Yokohama, Hakone and 

 Nikko, which are all situated in the central portion of the Empire Adding to my own 

 captures some Coleoptera received from my brothers residing in Yokohama, I find my 

 little collection to be composed as follows • 



Coleoptera .350 Species. 



Hymenoptera 1 (50 " 



Hemiptera 75 " 



Diptera 30 " 



Orthoptera . . . . , 20 " 



Lepidoptera 10 " 



Neuroptera 10 " 



Total 655 



The last four orders are too scantily represented to ba compar.-^.l with those of our fauna, 

 and even the Hemiptera are scarcely numerous enough to afford a basis of comparison. 



