24 



REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH 



For the Season of i88l. 



To the Council of the Ottawa Field- Nat uralhts' Club : 



In compliance with the instructions received from yon I beg to submit a 

 brief report upon the work done in Entomology. This important branch of 

 science offers such a fine field for the investigations of our members that it is 

 pleasing to note even the slight increase of interest therein that was manifested 

 during the past season, and which was noticeable at our excursions. Many 

 insects were brought to me during the summer and others taken to our president; 

 some of these were brought for identification and information regarding their 

 habits, while the remainder were contributions to our respective collections. 

 The season for insects began at least two weeks earlier than in 1879 or 1880 ; such 

 common forms as flies and spiders appearing before 15th March, on which date a 

 number of small coleoptcra, chiefly carabida^, were observed. On the same day 

 appeared Apis mellifica, Linn., the honey-bee, and Folestes anmdatus, or mud-wasp. 

 The latter is very abundant during the summer, and may be seen in large num- 

 bers upon the watered streets, gathering the moist lime-stone dust with which it 

 builds its cells. Hundreds of these cells may be found under the stone window- 

 sills and cornices of the Parliament Buildings. This wasp remains, in diminish- 

 ing numbers, until the end of October, and stray ones may occur even later on' 

 sunny days. Pieris raptr, Linn., the cabbage butterfly, was not'ced on the 1st of 

 April, but during the first week of that mouth there was a continuous cold pene- 

 trating north wind, with low temperature, so that insect appearances were re- 

 duced again to the minimum. A recurrence of blight warm weather brought 

 them forth in rapidly increasing number and variet)', and during the remainder of 

 the spring they were very plentiful. On the 9th April hybernated specimens of 

 Vayiessa antiopa, Linn., the butterfly by some known as the Camberwell Beauty, 

 were in flight, and on the following day tiger beetles, C. imrpurea, Oliv., were 

 numerous in dry fields. About the 20th mosquitoes began to make their pre- 

 sence felt both by members and non-members, and in some of the neighbouring 

 woods they were more than usually obnoxious. On the 24tb, in a young pine- 

 grove, on the other side of the Ottawa, I obtained a number of Buprestiria;. 

 though not expecting to find them abioad so early. Of C. Virginiensis, Drury, I 

 took I male and 2 females, and of C. liberta, Germ., 14 males and 13 females. A 

 few pine weevils were also seen, and many of the pine saw-fiies. 



The currant saw-fly, Nemutus vcntricosu.t, King , also about this date was de- 

 positing its eggs, and as these hatch in about a week the young worms were at 

 their destructive work by May-day, new broods appearing all through the summer 

 and requiring constant watching. 



On May 6th (Saturday afternoon) a botanical and entomological party visited 

 the woods in the vicinity of Billings' Bridge, and about 2.5 to 30 species of coleop- 

 tera were collected. Among these were Serica scriceo, HI., of which numbers 

 were found feeding upon wild gooseberry bushes, and Chri/somcia elegans, Oliv., 

 of which the food-plant could not be discovered although the beetles were abun- 

 dant. Platycerus gwrcus, Weber, was found to be destroying the buds of maples 

 and other trees by eating them completely out, so as to leave but a shell, thus 

 killing the leaf-clusters. The beetles were found in the buds, sometimes a pair 

 in a bud. Many of the cwvlous \ai\x of Fhotimis avr/ulatus, Say, one of our fire- 

 flies, were observed crawling upon the trunks of trees in swamps, or suspended 

 by the tip of the tail to the bark in the same manner as the larva^ of the ('occin- 

 ellidre, or lady-birds, when changing to the pupa state. The sultry weather of 

 the following week brought forth swarms of insects of all varieties, and a very 

 fur collection might have been made in the city. 



