Insect Life on the Western Arctic Coast of America 39k 
abundant. The absence of green leaves for nine months in the year may be a 
contributing cause, but the permanently frozen ground is probably the main 
factor. Grasshoppers lay their eggs in the ground, and as the surface, except in 
bare, sandy places, thaws for only a few inches, it may be impossible for grass- 
hoppers to develop. Mr, Norman Griddle, of Treesbank, Man., states that the 
grasshoppers known to go farthest north in Canada hibernate as nymphs, and 
that the eggs are laid about a month after the beginning of spring. In the 
Arctic this would be about July 1, and the two remaining summer months are 
perhaps not sufficient for the nymphs to grow large enough to withstand the 
winter, even if the eggs were laid in the ground and hatched out.^ 
The absence of true bees in the Arctic is perhaps due to the scarcity of 
flowers from which pollen and honey can be secured, and to the absence of suit- 
able trees, etc., for nest-building. Sawflies (Nematus) were collected at latitude 
72 degrees north, longitude 94 degrees east {"Fox" Expedition), and on Elles» 
mere island (2nd Fram Expedition). "Formica rubra" from Parry's and Ross's 
voyage was probably introduced, if the identification is correct. 
As to the beetles found beyond the tree limit in the American Arctic, it is 
probable that those dependent on decaying matter, and those directly (chrys- 
omelidse, rhynchopora, elateridse) or indirectly (plant-lice-feeders, coccinelli- 
dae) dependent upon green leaves do not go as far north as the predacious fam- 
ilies (carabidae, staphylinidse) and the water beetles (dytiscidge).^ None of 
the four first-named families have, it is believed, been found in the Canadian 
Arctic archipelago. Of the three famihes of predacious beetles, it may be 
assumed that those (Carabidae, Dytiscidae) depending upon larger prey do not 
go so far north as the family (staphyHnidae) feeding upon more minute organisms. 
Micralymma was collected at cape Sabine; Lethridius in Alexandra fjord; 
Cryptophagus in Foulkes fjord (2nd Fram Expedition). The diminishing periods 
in which fresh water is ice-free as the high north is approached may be related 
to the eventual disappearance of the dytiscids and other aquatic insects. 
Dytiscids were collected on Parry's and Ross's voyages. 
Of the hemiptera (hemiptera were collected on Parry's and Ross's voyages) 
the families (aphidae, etc.), depending upon juicy, green leaves probably do not 
go as far north as the more agile or occult living families (saldidae, etc.). Aquatic 
hemiptera seem to find the arctic ponds unsuited for their development, though 
some of them (Corixa) go as far north as Port Clarence, Alaska. 
Of neuropteroids, dragon-flies hardly approach the limit of trees, perhaps 
owing to the same reason as the aquatic hemiptera; and ephemerids and perlids 
are not known in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. The trichoptera is probably 
the family of neuropteroids which reaches farthest north (trichopter collected 
on Parry's and Ross's voyages), though only in certain species {Apatania, etc.); 
probably because their larvae seem to be little influenced by their surroundings, 
and are found in both still and running water of high or low temperature. 
Spiders (Opilio known from Ponds inlet), mites, and collembola, and insects 
parasitic upon mammals and birds have been found as far north as there is land; 
and the same seems to be the case with at least some of the lepidotera (both 
butterflies and moths) preferring certain plants. It may be assumed that at 
the highest latitudes (say beyond latitude 80 degrees north) on both sides of 
Kennedy-Robeson channels these latter orders comprise the bulk of the insect 
fauna together with sawflies, bumblebees, and parasitic wasps, diptera, and 
minute hemiptera and beetles.^ 
1 Professor E. M. Walker, of Toronto, claims that all the Melanopliis species pass the 
winter in the eg-R-stag-e. The northward distribution of grasshoppers on this continent is 
treated in his Canadian Arctic Expedition report, vol. Ill, Part J. 
2 Beetle iPlatyderus) known from lat. 72° N.. long 94° W. ("Fox"). 
•i See the insects secured by the Polaris expedition, and identified by A. S. Packard, Jr., 
in "The American Naturalist," Vol. XI, 1877, pp. 51-53. 
