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MG BritisH CoLuMBIA. 1919 © 



and 3139), also stone chisels (Nos. 3140, 3141, and 3142) and spear-points (Nos. 3148 to 3147), 
were collected many years ago at Port Haney, and presented by Mr. Hector Ferguson, of Van- 
couver, B.C., to the Provincial Museum. These specimens had been sent to the Provincial Library 
by mistake some time ago; however, they were finally located and transferred to this Department. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
By E. H. BLackMore. 
Very little field-work has heen done during the past season, but some of the material taken 
by the Museum coHectors during the past three years has been further worked over and many 
interesting facts brought to light. We have kept in touch with several of the collectors in various 
parts of the Province, and have obtained some new records, together with an added knowledge 
of the distribution of many of our species, the results of which are embodied in the following © 
pages. 
The weather conditions were vastly different to those of the previous seasons; during the 
last three weeks in April of this year (1918) we had a continuation of bright sunshine with a 
temperature far above the average, which brought about the emergence of many species far in 
advance of their normal times of appearance. Amongst the Geometridie this was especially 
noticeable, as in many cases they were from four to six weeks earlier than usual; in one case, 
Cosymbria lumenaria, a difference of two months, a specimen being taken in fine condition on 
April 27th in the Lower Fraser Valley. My earliest previous record of this species is June 15th, 
1915, that particular year being rather an early one. It is generally taken from the first to the 
middle of July. 
In August we had a very wet month (I am now referring to Vancouver Island and the — 
Lower I'raser Valley), which is very unusual, as that month is practically the hottest and driest 
of the whole year. A very noticeable feature of the past summer was the prevalence of high 
winds for continued periods, a factor which militates greatly against the collection of specimens, 
especially of diurnals and geometers who will not attempt to fly in the face of a strong wind. 
One of the outstanding features of the season in this district was the remarkable scarcity 
of noctuids, this being the poorest season by far, for many years, from a collecting point of view, 
although in the Interior conditions did not seem quite so bad. 
The damage done by cutworms this year was very light as compared with the two previous 
seasons; this was rather to be expected, as the season following a particularly heavy outbreak 
is generally comparatively light, owing to the heavy increase of parasitism amongst the lary 
and pup», thus enabling nature to restore her balance. 
Unfortunately, to offset this, there was a very heavy infestation of the forest tent-caterpillar 
(Malacosoma pluvialis Dyar); in fact, the heaviest infestation we have had for many years. 
In normal years they confine themselves to the trees and bushes on yacant lots and on the road- 
side, but this year they were in such numbers that they attacked everything in sight, invading 
gardens and orchards and defoliating all kinds of fruit and shade trees. Wherever one went 
their ugly, unsightly webs were in evidence. A remarkable feature of the late summer was the 
presence all over the Province in large numbers of Aglais californica Bdy. (the tortoise-shell 
butterfly). This butterfly occurs regularly in certain sections of the Province, but I do not 
think that it has ever been so abundant and reported from so many widely separated localities. — 
Mr. W. B. Anderson, Dominion Inspector of Indian Orchards, reported it from Fort George right 
through to Stuart Lake, all through the Cariboo and Chilcotin Districts down to Lillooet. Ina _ 
letter under date of August 6th, Mr. A. W. Phair, who is a resident of the latter locality, says — 
in part: “There is a very interesting outbreak here of what I take to be Vanessa californica. 
It is working at about 4,000 feet on a shrub with a heavy laurel-like leaf. The outbreak extends — 
at least fifty miles in a straight line. The shrubs are all eaten off and one little branch would 
have about a hundred ¢aterpillars on it.” 
Mr. Phair sent me some twenty pup, which emerged the day of their arrival, and it is 
curious to note that they are all about one-third less in size than the average, and, although 
I have specimens from all parts of the Province, these are the only dwarf ones I have seen. It 
may be the altitude, or, what to my mind is more probable, there was such an enormous number 
of them that they did not get suflicient food to eat, and consequently transformed into pup in 
a somewhat stunted state, which was reflected in the smaller size of the imagines. They also 
occurred from Cranbrook in the east, through the Keremeos District, down the valley of the 

