354 INSECTS OF ARCTIC NORTH AMERICA. 



For the following notice and list of insects collected on 

 the Expedition, I am indebted to Adam White, Esq., 

 F.L.S., &c, of the British Museum. With respect to 

 the extent of the collection, it is to be observed that no 

 time was devoted to the capture of insects. Such as pre- 

 sented themselves at convenient times were taken, but 

 none were sought for ; and the numbers of the list are not, 

 therefore, to be considered as a criterion of the richness of 

 the country in that division of the animal kingdom. 



Note on Hymenoptera in Arctic North America. 



" Otho Fabricius first, perhaps, recorded any of the Hymen- 

 optera of Arctic North America. Doubtless Baffin, Frobisher, 

 and other manly navigators recognised humble bees and other 

 bees during their summer voyages, and may have, in print or 

 in manuscript, with sailor-like earnestness, made mention of 

 every such occurrence in their journals. It is delightful to read 

 the notices of flowers and verdure in their accounts of the 

 hurried spring, summer, and autumn two months of a Green- 

 land year, of five-sixths winter. Where flowers and verdure 

 abound, even for six weeks or a shorter time, there insects 

 must be found; — there insects of the order Hymenoptera, the 

 order to which this notice is limited, must occur. Flowers and 

 Hymenoptera must be together. 



" O. Fabricius records two species of Hymenoptera as being 

 brought by him from Greenland. His book, so admirable a 

 model of a local fauna as to be even now one of the standards of 

 excellence, was published in 1780. The next considerable 

 accession to our acquaintance with the Hymenoptera of British 

 America was made by Redman, who collected in Nova Scotia 

 many fine species now in the British Museum. Some of these, 

 such as Pelecinus, Sirices, Ichneumonidce, &c, were very pro- 

 minent species, and are now being worked out in the vast col- 

 lections of the National Museum. 



" Sir John Richardson and his brave comrades collected many 



