154 LE NATURALISTE CANADIEN 
not coincide wih ours. Davis made no attempt to establish 
lectotypes for the species, and, therefore, it was often im- 
possible for us to determine on what specimen he based his 
conclusion. 
PROVANCHER’S LIFE AND WORK. 
Practically the first Canadian and in fact one of the first 
Americans to make a serious and comprehensive study of the 
Hymenoptera of Canada was Abbé Léon Provancher. Abbé 
Provancher was a French Canadian who was born, brought 
up and spent most of his life in the Province of Quebec. He 
died in 1892, and brief accounts of his life and work were 
afterward published in a number of journals. * Some years 
later Abbé Huard began a more extended biography which 
appeared in various issues of Le Naturaliste Canadien, * a 
magazine founded and edited, until shortly before his death, 
by Provancher. Since Provancher began his work in Quebec 
and spent most of his life there, it is not surprising to know 
that a large part of his collection came from that region. But 
later in his life he received much material from other people 
so that his completed collection included species from many 
parts of Canada, the United States, Europe and some of 
the West Indian Islands. 
Provancher described about 923 species and a few genera 
of Hymenoptera and most of this great number are valid. 
His largest and most comprehensive work on Hvmenoptera 
J. Seeespecial!y Can Ent., Vol. 24, 1892, pp. 130-131,and Entom News, 
Vol. 6, 1895, p. 209, pl. IX. 
2. This interesting account has never been completed, but Abbé Huard 
told us it was his intent'on to complete it and we certainly hope he fiuds 
an opportunity tn do so, For the parts published, see Nat. Can., 18g4, 
1855. 1896, 1897, 1898. 
