86 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



the town of Gaspe and another line extends from the city of Quebec 

 along the north side of the peninsula to Matane, but eastward from 

 Matane to the tip of the peninsula is a strip of nearly 200 miles not 

 provided with any railroad, where the new automobile road is the 

 only means of communication except the ocean. 



Of course, the entire population is French and we found compara- 

 tively few people who could speak English, even those in charge of 

 the hotels. Tourist business, however, is increasing so rapidly that it 

 seems inevitable that more provision will be made in the near future 

 for travellers who speak only English. 



The country is very beautiful and we enjoyed every hour of our 

 stay in it. I found it much more difficult than I had expected to reach 

 the higher altitudes of the mountains in the interior ; so I was unable 

 to collect on any real mountains at all, although altitudes of 600 to 800 

 feet were occasionally attained. A considerable number of flies were 

 collected, representing many species, most of which however seemed 

 to be the commoner forms occurring in the Appalachian Mountain 

 system much farther south. 



A good deal of attention was given to collecting the species of flies 

 characteristic of the seashore, in the hope that some of the Labrador 

 forms would make their appearance here. As far as the material has 

 yet been studied, however, it seems that no striking northern forms 

 were found ; from which the preliminary conclusion is drawn that the 

 breadth of the Lower St. Lawrence is sufficient to form a barrier 

 against the spread of the northern flies southward. Curiously enough 

 I repeatedly found on the seashore of this peninsula the same species 

 of flies I have often collected on the shore of Chesapeake Bay, near 

 Washington, D. C. These flies have a much wider distribution north- 

 ward than had hitherto been supposed, which was one of the inter- 

 esting discoveries of my trip. 



We found the automobile a very satisfactory means of travel. We 

 did not try to make very long daily journeys, stopping to collect in- 

 sects occasionally. At night we stopped at tourist camps where these 

 were available, and where there were none, we made use of the hotels 

 of the country. 



My illustrations are from photographs that I took on the Gaspe 

 Peninsula. 



