ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 87 



The Ooaimittee oa Nominations, consisting of Messrs. Lintner, Davis and Rolfs, pro- 

 posed : 



For President, C. H. Fernald, of Amherst, Mass. 

 For First Vice-President, F. M. Webstkk, of Wooster, Ohio. 

 For Second Vice- President, Herbert Osborn, of Ames, Iowa. 

 For Secretary, C. L. Maulatt, of Washington, D. C. 



On motion, the chair was instructed to cast the ballot of the Association for the gen- 

 tlemen named, and they were declared duly elected. 



On motion of Mr. Southwick, the reading of the minutes of the entire meeting was 

 dispensed with, and oa motion of the same gentleman a vote of thanks was tendered the 

 President and Secretary of the Association in recognition of their services. 



On motion of Mr. Howard, the local committee in charge of the meeting at Spring- 

 field AV'us given a vote of thanks. 



President-elect Fernald took the chair and briefly expressed his thanks for the honour 

 conferred upon him. 



The Association then adjourned. 



WILLIAM H. EDWARDS. 



Our readers will all, we are sure, be glad to receive the excellent portrait prefixed to 

 this volume of the well-known and now venerable entomologist, Mr. W. H. Edwards, of 

 Coal burgh, West Virginia. His life-long work has been the study of diurnal lepidop- 

 tera, and the results of that work are splendidly set forth in the beautifully illustrated 

 volumes of his " Butterflies of North America." In April, 1868, the first part was 

 issued, and at once commended itself to entomologists everywhere by the exquisite beauty 

 and finish of the plates and their faithfulness to nature. In July, 1872, the first series, 

 forming a large quarto volume with fifty plates, was completed. The second series, con- 

 taining fifty-one plate?, was begun in May, 1874, but not finished until November, 

 1884 ] the less frequent issue of the parts being more than compensated for by the increased 

 value of both plates and letter press. When the work was begun, as Mr. Edwards stated 

 in his preface, little or nothing was known of the eggs, larvae, or chrysalids of any except 

 the commonest butterflies, and accordingly his first volume illustrated only the perfect 

 state. In 1870 he made the notable discovery that eggs could be satisfactorily obtained 

 by confining the female butterfly of any species with the growing food-plant of its larva, 

 and at once began the study of the life-histories of a number of species previously known 

 only in the imago state. The results of these studies are admirably set forth in the letter 

 press as well as in the plates of the second and third series ; on these are accurately de- 

 picted eggs and larvae in their different stages, as well as chrysalids and imagoes. Many 

 wonderful discoveries have been made during these investigations, among the first being 

 that of the seasonal trimorphism of Papilio Ajax and the dimorphism of Grapta inter- 

 rogationis and of G. comma. The process of breeding was soon taken up by Mr. Edwards's 

 friends and correspondents ail over North America, and, aided by the general extension 

 of railways over the continent, he was able to get eggs of butterflies from widely distant 

 localities, and to follow them successfully through all their stages. Thanks to his eff'orts 

 the reproach of ignorance of the preparatory states of our butterflies has been removed, and 

 though much remains to be learnt, vast progress has already been made. The first part of 

 the third series was issued in December, 1886, and in October last we had the pleasure of 

 welcoming the sixteenth. Far from showing any decline from the author's high standard 

 of excellence, this last issue may justly be regarded as the climax of good work, both on 

 the part of the writer and the artist. All through Mr. Edwards has been fortunate in 

 having his wishes so ably carried out by his artist-assistants — Mrs. Mary Peart, of Phila- 

 delphia, who has drawn most accurately nearly all the plates, and in order to do so ■eatis- 

 factorily has reared most of the caterpillars; and ]\Irs. Lydia Bowen who has so exquisitely 

 performed the work of colouring. Many of the plates of the third series have been 

 -drawn by Mr. Edward A. Kellner, of Philadelphia. 



