ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 11 



Toronto, as the chief City in Ontario and the seat of various and important institu- 

 tions of learning, should furnish us raany capable investigators, but I find that the workers 

 there have never been numerous ; nor do the local natural history societies appear to 

 have done much to develop them. I must mention, however, our first President, Prof. 

 Oroft, with Mr. W. Brodie and Oapt. Gamble Geddes. Mr. Brodie has accumulated 

 large collections, and he has published a few interesting articles in our magazine (and 

 more recently in the " Biological Review of Ontario,") upon various gall-forraing insects, 

 Capt. Geddes has been a most enthusiastic gatherer of lepidoptera, amassing a collection 

 of butterflies unequalled in Canada, and which has since been purchased l:)y the Geological 

 Survey of Canada. His interesting papers upon Canadian butterflies appear in several 

 volumes of the Entomoloijist. 



Port Hope has been the home of Dr Bethune, so we may rest assured that the 

 country round about has been well investigated. I have not yet had the pleasure of 

 seeing his tine collections, and as regards the extent and value of his writings upon our 

 insects I have already spoken. At Belleville we have had such well-known collectors 

 as Prof. J. J. Bell and Prof. Macoun. The former paid much attention to the smaller 

 forms of coleoptora, and was a frequent contributor to the Entomologist. As for Prof. 

 Macoun, he is now a naturalist of world-wide reputation, who has been most assiduous in 

 making known the faun? and flora of the Dominion, and although the great demands 

 upon his time do not permit him to continue the study of entomology, he still continues, 

 I am glad to say, the collection of insects as opportunity permits. In the neighboring 

 town of Trenton very careful work has been done by Mr. J. D. Evans, one of the most 

 thorough collectors with vv'hom I have corre.sponded, and whose collections are modeis of 

 neatness and skill, in mounting and arrangement. 



A branch of the Society formerly existed at Kingston, but I do not find the i ecord 

 of any work except by Mr. R, V. Rogers, from whom we have had several intere.stiag 

 papers. With such a well-known university as Queen's located in the city, there should 

 be more activity in the development of the natural history of the locality. Ottawa in 

 the eariy days of the Society was the residence of one of our most noted collectors, the 

 late Mr. B. Billings, who was a contributor to Vol. I. His collections were extensive and 

 were very carefully and skillfully prepared, but death cut short his labors, and his 

 collections were mostly destroyed through want of proper care on the part of the Society 

 into whose hands they pissed. Of recent years there has been an active, if not large, 

 body of investigators, who have striven to develop a full knowledge of the local fauna, 

 and who have been able to do some useful work in other directions. Prof. Saunders is 

 now there, as Director of the Experimental Farms, in connection with which our good 

 friend, Mr. Fletcher, holds the position of Entomologist and Botanist. The value and 

 authority of his official work, and his enthusiasm in all entomological matters, are 

 recognized by every entomologist. Your out going President is also to be found in the 

 Capital, when at home, but it would not be quite the correct thing to give any opinion on 

 his work, as you might think me a prejudi:;ed judge. The Octawa Field-Naturalists' 

 Club, organized in l879, has always had an Entomological Branch, and several other of 

 its members are doing fair work, among whom I may cite Mr. T. J. MacLaughlin, one of 

 the few collectors of odonata in Canada. Several entomological lists, with numerous 

 reports and papers have been published in the '1 ransactions of the Club (now the Ottawa 

 Naturalist)., and Mr. Fletcher has now ready for publication a complete catalogue of the 

 Ottawa butterflies. 



Occasional workers have been stationed at other points, as, for instance, Rev. V. 

 Clementi at North Druro, Mr. N. H. Oowdry at Stratford and Mr. B. Gott at Arkona. 

 In the Lake Superior region the only sustained work has been by Mr. Evans at Sudbury, 

 where he made a most interesting, and fairly complete, colUction in several orders. Many 

 rare insects have been captured by him and it is much to be regretted that he has not yet 

 found time to publish the lists which he Las had in preparation. Nepigon has several 

 times been visited by Mr. Fletcher, and in one of the annual reports can be found an 

 interesting account of the work done there. Dr. Bethune has also published observations 

 made during a trip to Lakes Huron and Superior. 



