30 B.C. Entomological Society. 



economic entomologists; your studies and knowledge are along lines differing from 

 those of the systematist, and you know so much more of your subject than I do. 

 The economic side is all for destroying. To paraphrase a sentence in the Bible, the 

 economics say : " This is an insect, come let us kill it, that the fruits of the earth 

 may be ours." 



While systematists are not bound by the law -'Thou shalt not kill," and it is 

 true that a great number of insects are killed by collectors, still the object of all 

 lovers of the pursuit is to ijreserve species from extinction, and the tendency is 

 against killing, for to every one of a sensitive uature the wholesale destruction of 

 life must always be distressing. JNIy object is to advocate some endeavour to make 

 the two sides overlap, by urging the economics to take some interest in the collecting, 

 naming, and recording of insects of whatever order they may feel a preference for ; 

 and for the collectors to do a little more work in the life-histories of their respective 

 pet orders. I think the more attention is given to this, the more interesting the 

 study becomes. 



There is a wide field of useful work waiting to be done in British Columbia, 

 and our Society has a fine opportunity of doing the work. The Society is a nucleus 

 to which will be attracted all those iu the district who take an interest in entomology, 

 and which can gather up and record and preserve the work of its individual members. 

 I look forward to the day when the Society shall possess an establishment of its 

 own where it can have collections of named specimens in all orders and with a 

 library of books of reference for the use of its members. It will be a great gain 

 >vhen students can compare specimens with those In the Society's collections and 

 have a certain degree of certainty as to the correct name of the specimen they are 

 examining. Moreover, it would be an incentive to the members to work to obtain 

 species not represented in the Society's collection. The subject of Lepidoptera has, 

 I think, so far received most attention. But even in this branch only the surface 

 has been skimmed. The commoner species are pretty well known, but assiduous 

 work by a greater number of collectors would, I feel confident, bring to light many 

 species hitherto unrecorded, at all events in British Columbia. 



What authoritative voice have we on the British Columbia insects? True, Mr. 

 F. H. Wolly-Dod is making a special study of the Noctuidte, and Drs. Barnes and 

 McDunnough have published valuable notes on some of the rarer species, but since 

 the lamented death of the Rev. G. W. Taylor I know of no special authority on the 

 Geometridse. Some little work has been done in the Diptera and quite a fair 

 amount in Coleoptera, but, so far as I am aware, the other orders have been sadly 

 neglected. 



There is a good field for the study of Neuroptera, Including the dragon-flies, and 

 any one taking up Hj-menoptera would find the subject most interesting, with untold 

 opportunities for finding new specie.?. I would strongly recommend to our members 

 the serious study, as systematists, of some branch of this order, either ichneumons, 

 gall insects, ants, wasps, bees, sawflies, or any other subdivision, for Hymenoptera 

 is rather a large order to take as a whole. Unfortunately, there does uot appear 

 to be any authoritative list on the order in Canada to work upon as a basis. If 

 you look through the records of the Canadian Entomological Society for the last 

 six or seven years, you will find that meagre attention has been paid to this order. 

 Therefore there is a splendid opportunit.y for original research. 



Moreover, in Hymenoptera specially, the economic entomologist and the syste- 

 matist would work on common ground, for in this order is found nature's chief 

 control of other insect pests. 



The scientific study of the order would add materially to our general knowledge 

 and should make a valuable contribution to our British Columbia list of insects, 

 and, above all, it would forward the amalgamation of the economic and systematic 

 sides for which I am pleading. 



