APPENDIX B. XLIX 
undertaken in order to procure, if possible, a practical remedy.  Whale- 
oil soap and crude petroleum were the principal applications employed, 
and while the former was not entirely effective, the latter was regarded 
by many as too dangerous a remedy for general use. Dr. Fletcher, Prof. 
Webster, and others took part in the discussion. The attack is believed 
to be a most serious one, and to require prompt and effective measures 
for its repression. 
The thirty-first annual report of the society to the Legislature of 
Ontario was presented at the opening of the last Session, and published 
in February. It consists of 112 pages, illustrated with forty-six engrav- 
ings in the text, and a photogravure portrait of Mr. J. Alston Moffat, 
for many years the devoted Curator and Librarian of the Society. The 
volume contains reports from the various officers and sections, and from 
the flourishing branches at Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto. There is 
appended also an account of the second annual meeting of the North- 
West (Canada) Entomological Society, which has its headquarters in 
Alberta. 
During the winter and spring fortnightly meetings for the study 
of Entomology were held on Friday evenings, and alternately with 
them the microscopical section held its sessions; much serious work was 
done in both departments, and great interest was shown by the mem- 
bers. The geological section met weekly on Tuesdays, under the guid- 
ance of Dr. Woolverton, and the ornithological section once a month at 
the residence of Mr. W. E. Saunders, one of the most devoted and well- 
informed bird-lovers in the Province of Ontario. The botanical section 
has been in abeyance for a time, but is now being revived with every 
prospect of success. From this brief account it will be seen how wide 
a range of country the society’s operations cover, and how many depart- 
ments of natural science are included in its work. 
In the report to the Legislature there are published the papers read 
at the annual meeting, among which may be mentioned the Presidential 
address by the Rev. Dr. Fyles, who took for his subject the offices served 
by insects in the promotion of the fertilization and improvement of 
plants. He gave an interesting and instructive account of a large 
number of plants and their attendant insects, and illustrated his remarks 
with a series of beautiful diagrams of the structure of numerous flowers, 
the work of his own hand. 
Professor Lochead, of the Ontario Agricultural College, read papers 
on “The systematic and economic study of forest insects in Ontario,” 
setting forth the necessity of endeavouring to diminish the ravages of 
insects in addition to the work of protection against fire already under- 
taken by the Provincial government. “The silk-worm industry in 
Ontario,” which has been begun on a small scale in the county of Essex, 
