XX EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



natm-alist Grote (19th Eeport of the Entomological Society of Ontario, p. 62), there were probably not 

 one hundred species of Lepidoptera named and determined in any collection on this continent The 

 society was fully organized on the 16th of April, 1863. In August of 1868 it commenced the publica- 

 tion of its monthly organ, the ' Canadian Entomologist,' which ante-dated by one month the ' Amer- 

 ican Entomologist,' edited by Walsh and Riley. In 1871 the society was duly incorporated ; and since 

 then, under the fostering care of the Ontario government, it has maintained its important position as 

 one of the leading entomological societies on the continent of America. 



One of the conditions of the act for its incorjioration was that it should present to the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture for Ontario an annual report of its proceedings. Twenty-one such reports have 

 now been issued, the whole embodying a vast amount of valuable entomological information. 



The report for 1890 contains an account of the proceedings at the annual meeting of the society, 

 the address of the president, and the various reports and papers read on that occasion. It contains 

 also full and interesting notes of the proceedings at the Indianapolis meeting of the Entomological 

 Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Si.,ieQCe, and of the American Association 

 of Economic Entomologists held at Champaign, Illinois. These notes were presented by Mr. Fletcher, 

 who had attended the meetings of the association as the society's representative. They are followed 

 in the ' Report' by various original jDapers, thought to be of interest both to entomologists and to the 

 general public. The titles of these are : " Kitchen Garden Pests and How to Deal with Them ;" " An 

 Outbreak of the Army Worm in Maryland ;" " Tortoise Beetles ;" " Quebec Representatives of the 

 Genua Plusia ;" " Origin and Perpetuation of Arctic Forms;" "Fuller's Rose-Beetle;" " Hymeuop- 

 tera Parasitica ;" " Insects Injurious to the Elm ;" "The Entomology of Shakespeare;" and "Experi- 

 ments for the Destruction of Chinch Bugs." The rest of the ' Report ' is made up with selections, and 

 notices and critiques of the most important entomological publications that had appeared in the course 

 of the year. 



The ' Canadian Entomologist ' has reached its twenty-third volume. It is still under the able 

 management of the Rev. Dr. Bethune, F.L.S. It has now been permanently enlarged to twenty-four 

 pages, and " continues to receive contributions from all the most eminent entomologists in North 

 America, and to circulate in all parts of the world." (21st report, introductory letter from the secre- 

 tary to the Honourable the Minister of Agriculture). In the volume for 1890 articles appear from 

 thirty-five contributors who are pursuing their investigations in various parts of British North 

 America, the United States of America, Great Britain, British India and Germany. No less than 

 seventeen new species of insects are described in its pages. 



The constitution of the society provides for the formation of branch associations ; and in Montreal 

 an important branch has flourished for a length of time. It was chiefly through the instrumentality 

 of Mr. F. B. Caulfield that this branch was called into existence, and it still enjoys the benefit of his 

 services as vice-president. Under the presidency of Mr. H. H. Lyman it is raising up a number of 

 young and enthusiastic entomologists, who give promise of attaining eminence in their favourite pur- 

 suit. At its monthly meetings original papers have been read, and descriptions of several new species 

 of beetles, discovered by Mr. J. F. Hausen, one of its members, have been given. The secretary of 

 the branch is Mr. A. F. Winn. 



The scheme for the formation of sections, which was put into operation last May, continues to 

 work admirably. The sections formed in London, the headquarters of the society, are four — the 

 Botanical, the Ornithological, the Geological and the Microscopical, all of which are doing good work. 

 The value of all these sections to the parent society will be readily perceived : of the Botanical, in 

 determining the food-jjlants of insects and in tracing insect ravages and their results ; of the Ornitho- 

 logical, in discovering what insectivorous birds act as checks upon particular kinds of insects and in 

 answering such inquiries as that which called forth a volume from the United States Agricultural 

 Department, (whether the English span-ow, which was said to destroy lai'ge numbers of injurious 

 larvse, was of benefit to the community or not) ; of the Geological, in shewing what kinds of soil are 



