Pkoceedixgs. 1914. 41 



Columbia Eutoinologieil Society was iuaiignrateil. Before dealing with the fonu:i- 

 tiou of tbe Society, it would perhaps be well to touch upon the literature applying 

 to the insects of the Province available to students prior to lilOl. and also noticing 

 some of the works published since. 



At that time It is doubtful if local collectors had access to any illustrated books 

 of any great use to them on any orders other than Lepidoptera. Most of tlie 

 material had to be sent away to si>ecialists for identifleation and naming. I may 

 remark, in passing, that this necessity still exists, unfortunately, though to a lesser 

 extent. Comstock's •' Manual for the Study of Insects " was published in 180."). But 

 this book, excellent though it is, so far as it goes, comprises all the orders of insects. 

 and of necessity cannot treat the separate orders more than in a brief manner within 

 the .space of a single volume. 



When our branch of the Entomological Society of Ontario was formed, the 

 Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D.C., presented it with a number of works 

 relating respectively to most of the orders of insects. A list of these books is given 

 in the British Columbia Entomological Society's Bulletin No. 5, and the works are 

 still in our library. 



British Columbia collectors laboured under a further disadvantage, because most 

 of these iiublications related to United States insects, and it was only in cases where 

 the same insects occurred in both countries that our entomologists could obtain from 

 books the information they wanted. 



On Lepidoptera the most generally accepted work was the " List of the Lepidop- 

 tera of Boreal America," by John B. Smith, Se.D., and others,, published in 1891. 

 This list was merely a list, and, moreover, did not contain a good many of the 

 British Columbia species, but it was the only foundation students had to work upon 

 at that time. It is therefore little wonder that the study made slow progress. 

 A more ambitious and more comprehensive work on the same lines was imblished 

 by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, in 1902. The title of this is " A List 

 of North American Lepidoptera and Key to the Literature of this Order of Insects." 

 by Harrison G. Dyar, Ph.D. This catalogue, which found greater favour than 

 Smith's, was in general use in the Province in 190.3, and without doubt gave a 

 great impetus to the systematic recording of moths and butterflies by our local 

 entomologists. 



Other works which were, and still are, of great service to collectors in Briti.sh 

 Columbia are Mr. W. J. Holland's " Butterfly Book," published in 189S, and the same 

 author's " Moth Book," published in 1903. These two volumes contain coloured 

 illustrations of most of the better-known sisecies of Lepidoptera found in America 

 north of the Rio Grande of Texas, and include many British Columbia insects. The 

 price of these two books is within the reach of most of us. A more expensive worlc 

 on the butterflies had previou.sly been published, for in a preface to his " Butterfl.v 

 Book " Mr. Holland states : " A few years ago the preparation of such a work as 

 this at the low price at which it is sold would have been an utter impossibility. 

 ' The Butterflies of North America.' by W. H. Edwards, published in three volumes, 

 is sold at $150, and, as I know, is sold even at this price, below the cost of 

 manufacture." 



Another book useful to British Columbia collectors, but covering much the same 

 ground as Holland's, is W. G. Wright's " Butterflies of the West Coast of the United 

 States," published in 1905. 



In 1904 Mr. August Busck, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 published an account of the " Tineid Moths from British Columbia, with Descriptions 

 of New Species." In the preface to this work the author honours, among others, 

 Messrs. J. W. Cockle, of Kaslo. B.C., and Theodore Bryant, of Wellington, B.C.. for 

 assistance rendered in the work. 



In 19(14 Dr. Harrison G. Dyar again iiul)lishes .-i valualilc work on the " Lepidop- 

 tera of the Kootenai District of British Coluniliia." In this work again the 

 experience of Mr. J. W. Cockle is often referred to. 



