REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 55 



It was the latter paper that also published the works of two other 

 pioneers of entomology in this country: D'Urban and Barnston. William 

 Stewart D'Urban appears to have been an Englishman who spent several 

 years in Montreal prior to 1861. Among the articles he wrote inay be men- 

 tioned the following: "Descriptions of Four Species of Canadian Butterflies," 

 1857; "Description of a Canadian Butterfly and some Remarks on Genus 

 Papilio," 1858; "A Systematic List of Coleoptera found in the Vicinity of 

 Montreal," 1859. 



George Barnston, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, lived in 

 Montreal for several years. We find that in 1860 he published in the 

 Montreal Magazine "A Catalogue of Coleoptera collected in the Hudson's 

 Bay Territories," this being, without doubt, the first time that the Hudson's 

 Bay country had figured in entomology, and I doubt if irhas ever done so 

 since. 



Prior to 1858 entomology in Canada had been mainly supported by the 

 English-speaking people, but during that year a Frenchman named Pro- 

 vancher came to the front rank among Quebec entomologists, which position 

 he maintained for a great many years. He published in that year his first 

 work on Canadian insects. This book, dealing with insects attacking grain, 

 laid the foundation of "economic" entomology, and it was before this branch 

 of insect-study had even received its name. It was, at all events, the first 

 public manifestation in Quebec, if not in Canada, of this branch of ento- 

 mology, which today occupies such an important position in the world. 



It was not only in economic entomology, however, that Provancher did 

 such valuable pioneer work. It was he who published the first treatise on 

 botany, the first work on orchards and gardens, the first flora, and the first 

 technical study of insects. Today, several of these w^orks are regarded as 

 classics and have not yet been replaced by more modern and up-to-date 

 books. It was he also who founded the first French review of natural 

 history published in America, Le Naturaliste Canadien. The first number 

 of this review appeared in the month of December, 1868, and it is a coinci- 

 dence that in the same year the Canadian Entomologist was brought out — 

 the only scientific magazine in the Province of Ontario. Although its name 

 did not suggest entomology to any great extent, the Naturaliste always gave 

 a good deal of attention to this subject, and shortly after its foundation 

 Abbe Provancher began to devote himself more exclusively to the study of 

 insects. He added later the study of molluscs, but it may be truly stated 

 that though he commenced his career as a naturalist with botany, he ended 

 it with entomology, to which he devoted the last twenty-two years of his 

 life. 



