REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 41 



Transferred to Portneuf, in I860, Provancher continued his Horticultural 

 experiments with great success even establishing a fruit tree nursery for the 

 advantage of the farmers of this county. Two years later, he was ready to 

 make known the results of his experience as a fruit grower. How new work 

 published in 1862 and entitled: "Le Verger Canadien" has been until lately 

 the classic guide of fruit culture in the Province of Quebec. This little book 

 reached its fifth edition in 1885;; for the economic entomologist it contains 

 a very interesting section, namely the chapter dealing with the insect pests 

 of the orchards and describing the means of controlling them. This was,, in 

 all probability one of the first expressions of applied entomolog}' ever presented 

 in book form in Canada. But it is not the first in date. Provancher was 

 known almost exclusively as a systematist; nevertheless, the first paper he 

 published in his life was a discussion on "Insectes et maladies nuisibles au ble" 

 an essay prepared for a competition on this subject organized by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for which Provancher received a third prize (under the 

 nom de plume of Emilien Dupont}. 



The first important work of our great naturalist was published in the year 

 1862: it is the voluminous "Flore Canadienne", the first and only complete 

 work dealing with Canadian plants. Heretofore, no other worker has dared 

 undertake the gigantic task of revising and completing this now old treatise. 



Every Canadian and American entomologist knows Provancher as a 

 pioneer entomologist, and it is as such that he merits fame. His systematic 

 classification of insects modestly entitled "Petite Faune Entomologique du 

 Canada" fills four compact volumes making a total of 2506 pages as follows: 



Vol. I. — Coleopteres and additions. 



Vol. II. — Orthopteres, Nevropteres, Hymenopteres. 



Vol. III. — Hemipteres. 



Vol. IV. — Additions and corrections to Hymenopteres. 



There may be found the description of all the Canadian species contained 

 in his collections, many hundreds of which were unknown to science. In the 

 order of Hyemoptera alone, Provancher described 923 new species. Rohwer 

 and Cahan, of the Washington Bureau of Entomology have pronounced the 

 accuracy of his descriptions and pointed out some mistakes in referring species 

 to the wrong general. 



From 1868 until his death in 1892, Provancher devoted much of his time 

 and resources to the maintainence of his review" Le Naturaliste Canadien". 

 The editor filled with his own pen most of the 20 volumes of this publication 

 (nearly 8,000 pages). Apart from insect studies that were later published 

 in book form, this collection contains an elaborate classification of vertebrates, 

 a study on the birds of Quebec, vermes, etc. A volume on Mollusks was 



