INTRODUCTION. 
Our knowledge of the insect fauna of northern and arctic Canada has 
hitherto been so meagre, and our collections so lacking in material from that 
region that the invitation given me in 1913 by the Deputy Minister of Mines 
to prepare a memorandum of instructions concerning the collection of insects 
by the Canadian Arctic Expedition which was then being organized was more 
than welcome, and high hopes were entertained that a rich harvest would result. 
The sad and untimely death of Mr. James Murray, the marine biologist of the 
expedition, following the loss of the Karluk, placed upon the shoulders of Mr. 
Frits Johansen, to whom the entomological work had been assigned, a double 
burden and increased duties and he became responsible for the marine biology in 
addition to his botanical and entomological work. The large collections of 
marine and other invertebrates, fishes, and plants testify as to the assiduity with 
which Mr. Johansen collected. But, as was inevitable the number of insects 
collected was less than we had originally hoped to receive. Nevertheless, the 
collection of insects brought back by the expedition was a very representative 
one, and, as the succeeding reports will show, it has been the means of adding 
valuable information to our knowledge of the insects of the northern regions of 
this continent. No less than 8 new genera, 93 new species and 5 new sub- 
species and varieties have been described in the following pages. In addition, 
as a result of Mr. Johansen's keen desire to obtain notes on the life-histories and 
bionomics of these northern forms and the investigations that he carried on 
under the difficult conditions incident to such work in the north, he has been 
able to add much to our knowledge of northern insect life, and his notes will be 
found scattered through the reports in the different orders and families. Mr. 
Johansen's report on the insect life of the arctic will be read with interest in 
conjunction with the other reports, since it gives a picture of the conditions 
under which the insects were found; too often entomologists lose sight of the 
ecological aspect of an insect fauna, and reports become mere systematic cata- 
logues and lifeless. The abundance and variety of the arctic and sub-arctic 
insect life will be surprising perhaps to many entomologists who have not hitherto 
appreciated the burst of plant and insect life that takes place during the short 
arctic summer when the land is clothed with vegetation and flowers which are 
visited by innumerable bumble bees, moths and butterflies and other sun-loving 
insects, enjoying the brief spell of existence that release from the gelid land and 
water permits. 
We desire to express our warm appreciation of the assistance so willingly 
rendered by the authors whose names appear on the different reports in this 
volume in working up this interesting collection of the insects of the arctic and 
sub-arctic region of North America, and we hope that this volume may stimulate 
further investigation of a fauna of interest alike to the systematist and to those 
who are interested in the broader question of the distribution of animal life. 
C. GORDON HEWITT, 
Dominion Entomologist. 
Ottawa, January, 1920. 
