B. C. EXTO.MOI>OGICAL PROCEEDINGS, 1911. 37 



I dare say you have read, and perhaps seen, the effects of the de- 

 predation of the Spruce Bud Worm. It has ravaged the forests of 

 Douglas Fir and other conifers on different parts of the south end of 

 Vancouver Island and also the islands of the Gulf lying adjacent to 

 the east coast. This insect cetrainly owes its distribution and spread 

 to climatic conditions. The prevailing winds are from the South 

 around Victoria and the spread of the insect is from the south northward. 

 From observations it seems to be disappearing from the neighborhood 

 of Cowichan Bay, where it was very plentiful last year, but on the other 

 hand it has increased its distance about four miles further north from 

 Victoria along the line of the E. &: N. Railway. 



In this already too long paper I have purposely confined myself to 

 some of the leaf-destroying insects, but I hope at some future meeting 

 to have something to say about the aphides and others which infest our 

 low rich alluvial lands of the Fraser \'alle\. 



Tom Wilsox, 

 1103 Broadway West, \'ancouver, B.C. 



THi: LIFE HISTORY OF IXODES ANGUSTUS (BANKS) 



by 

 Seymour Hadwex, D. V. Sci. 



This tick is found on a variety of animals, but in British Columbia 

 occurs principally on squirrels {Sciurus hudsonius douglasi and Sciurus 

 hudsonlus vancouverensis. ) 



The life history, as gi\en below, is the result of a series of experi- 

 ments made in summer and winter at room temperature. The time 

 given of 221 days for the complete life c\cle is probably very nearly 

 what occurs in nature. It would appear that the time required for 

 Ixodes angustus to go through its life cycle is shorter than in many 

 other varieties of Ixodes, as squirrels have nests, and it is in these that 

 ecdysis occurs, the process being naturally hastened by the warmth of 

 the animal. 



The squirrels from which the ticks were taken, were shot at all 

 times of the year and had about an equal number of ticks upon them. 

 One point to note about squirrels is that they do not seem to wander 

 far away from their abodes, and are often seen feeding day after day 

 in the same spot; thus, any gorged ticks which dropped off them to 

 moult would stand a good chance of getting onto the same animal 

 again. Another interesting feature is the fact that males were seldom 



