ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. ir> 



The early stages of many forms can be advantageously studied in aquaria, for the 

 life histories of but few of the Auierican species have been published. Here is another 

 inviting and almost unoccupied field for students seeking a special lino of work. 



The same may be said of the, ortlioptera, our species of which are not numerous, but 

 of moderate size and frecjuently present in great abundance. They are among the most 

 destructive insect enemies of plant life, but atone, in some measure, for their ravages, 

 by the animation of their movements, and their almost ceaseless stridulation breaking 

 agreeably the silence of the fields. 



" In intervals of dreams 1 liear 



The cricket from the droughty ground ; 

 The grasshoppers spin into mine ear 

 A small innumerable sound." 



— Lampman. 



The hemiptera sonsist of two very large and important groups, which contain many 

 species exceedingly injurious to the crops which man raises, with so much labor, for his 

 sustenance, and even from merely material motives the " bugs " are deserving of careful 

 study. Nor are these insects all unattractive in their forms and habils ; many of them, 

 in fact, are very prettily ornamented. It is fully time that some attention was bestowed 

 upon them by our members. 



Even yet the avenues of study have not been exhausted ; when all the six-footed 

 insects have been examined there still remain for observation the spiders, skilful weavers 

 of the silken films that glisten in the morning dew ; the mites, so small and yet so 

 grievously afflicting man and beast and plant ; with other allied arthropods of consider- 

 able variety of form and habit, which fall within the scope of entomological research. 



The volumes of the Canadian Enfotnologist contain many important papers by our 

 numerous and hard working entomological friends in the United States, upon the orders 

 and groups which have been so much neglected by our own correspondents. These papers 

 indicate the interest and value which is attached to their study, and in these contribu- 

 tions it is often observed that the species under discussion have been derived from Cana- 

 dian sources. This indicates that our collectors are not working up the material that 

 they obtain with so much care and patient searching. It is certainly easier to send speci- 

 mens to specialists abroad than it is to determine them with the scanty library and 

 cabinet resources at the command of most of us. But one should not rest satisfied 

 merely with such determinations, but by subsequent study of his insects increase his 

 knowledge regarding them. He will thus be able, at least, to publish correct local lists 

 which may be of great value in the more complete study of the faiina of larger regions, 

 and as data for establishing the distribution of species. 



There is a great temptation to amass large collections, which in themselves are very 

 desirable and important, but whose care and incident correspondence and exchange may 

 so engross one's time that profitable lines of investigation are neglected, and one becomes 

 merely an insect curator instead of an entomologist. The finest collection may be suddenly 

 destroyed, or its possessor incapacitated for further labor, and the knowledge which he 

 has accumulated by many years of patient toil is then lost to science, if it has not been 

 published. There ar • rare instances of writers who seem unable to restrain themselves 

 from any topic, but the majority of entomologists doubtless find, as I do myself, that it 

 is far more pleasant to collect, examine and arrange their specimens than to sit down and 

 write about them. Yet we should try to do our duty in this respect also, knowing that, 

 if we have made discoveries or valuable observations, we owe it to our fellow-workers to 

 make them participants therein through the pages of the Canadian Entomologist. 



If gentlemen, you have found my paper dry, T may but hope that it has b'jen dry 

 enough to kindle fresh entomological tires, or add fuel to those already existing ; fires 

 that shall emit not merely Hashes ot passing enthusiasm but which shall burn brightly 

 and steadily, casting light where the shadows now deepen, and by genial warmth stimulat- 

 ing to renewed attack upon the myriad problems which await your solution in the almost 

 limitless and ever-attractive domain of Insect Life. 



