PROCEEDINGS, 1917 9 



Heath Collection of Lepidopters, which appeared in the Canadian 

 Entomologist for May, 1916. In support of my remarks to you this 

 morning, I would like to give a few brief extracts from the article in 

 question. As some of you probably know, the late Mr. E. F. Heath 

 was a resident of Cartwright, Manitoba, and collected there for about 

 35 years. At his death, his collection was acquired by the Manitoba 

 Government, as a nucleus for the entomological section of the Pro- 

 vincial ]Museum. 



Mr. Wolley Dod was given an opportunity of looking over it last 

 December, and this, in part, is what he says : "Viewed as a Avhole the 

 collection was in poor condition. The percentage of worn or indifferent 

 specimens was high, and with a very few exceptions, the setting was 

 badly done on short pins. A portion, and only a portion, of the speci- 

 mens bore date labels, usualh^ face downwards." Again he says : 

 "Heath, though a most energetic collector, had unfortunately a poorly 

 developed faculty for recognizing a species. We frequently found a 

 series of good specimens standing as one species, a series of bad speci- 

 mens of the same as distinct, and perhaps a series of smaller specimens 

 of the same thing as something else. Nor was that all, besides the 

 frequency with which one species stood for two or more, it was deplor- 

 able the number of very distinct and often dissimilar species which 

 were arranged in one series under the same name. In short, the errors 

 and mixtures were appalling." 



Xow, that is a pretty severe indictment of a man who had been 

 collecting for 35 years. There is no reason why any of our members 

 should lay themselves open to an attack of this nature. There is a 

 good collection of Lepidoptera in the Museum, which is available at any 

 time during the day, and my own private collection is open at all times 

 for inspection and comparison to any of our members who care to avail 

 themselves of it. 



In conclusion, I would like to appeal to all our members to do some 

 one thing or other during the coming season to advance the knowledge 

 of the entomology of this Province, either by recording life histories of 

 species, by the breeding of rare or uncommon forms, by making 

 ecological notes of all rare or uncommon species they may happen to 

 capture, of by taking interesting and uncommon forms in other orders 

 than those in which they happen to be interested, and giving those speci- 

 mens to members who are making a special study of them. 



Dr. Hewitt, the chief entomologist of the Dominion, paid a lirief 

 visit to this city last June, during which I had the pleasure of spending 

 an evening with him, and he wished me to convey to you his hearty 

 appreciation of the work our Society was doing. As your President, 

 it is my earnest desire to maintain this work, and that is why I ask all 



