REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 19 



A FEW NOTES ON THE LIFE OF ABBE PROVANCHER. 

 Canon V. A. Huard, D.Sc, Quebec. 



The Dominiori Entomologist, Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, in a letter which he 

 wrote to me recently, stated that he believed Abbe Provancher and his work are 

 better known and more admired outside the Province of Quebec than within it, 

 and I think he has good reason for making this assertion. Of course we must 

 remember that Provancher has been dead twenty-five years, and few memories 

 can stand such a test of time. I think most of us must resign ourselves to the fact 

 that we too shall be well-nigh forgotten a quarter of a century after our death. 

 Moreover, Abbe Provancher passed the last twenty years of his life in a sort of 

 retreat in the country, which of course did not tend to add to the number of people 

 who knew him personally. He came before the public, it is true, between the 

 years 1869 and 1892, but this was by reason of the technical books which he 

 published, and these books came to the attention of comparatively few inasmuch 

 as they related principally to entomology. As few sciences have been so lightly 

 valued by the general public in the Province of Quebec, it is not surprising that 

 Provancher's name remains unknown to the larger part of our people. Outside 

 of Quebec, on the other hand, wherever Canadian and American entomology is 

 studied Provancher's work on the Insects of Canada is valued. The number of 

 societies and individuals interested in the study of entomology in other countries 

 is very considerable, and' this would account for the fact, somewhat surprising at 

 first sight, that Provancher is today better known to strangers than to his own 

 countrymen. Moreover (and I say. this with the greatest modesty) if the name 

 of my illustrious master and friend has been kept alive in the Province of Quebec 

 it is largely due to the Natumliste Canadien, which frequently recalls the memory 

 of its founder. 



Last year I had the pleasure of presenting to the members of the Quebec 

 Society for the Protection of Plants a study on the entomological work of Pro- 

 vancher. It has been suggested to me this year that in order to make it more 

 complete I should add a few notes on the chief events of his life. It gives me 

 great pleasure to do this, and to enlarge on what I have already written about 

 Provancher and his work. 



Leon Provancher was born at Becancourt, Nicolet, on March 10th, 1820. 

 After passing the earlier years of his life in this old country parish he commenced 

 his classical studies at Nicolet College in 1834, where he showed his taste for 



