12 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



The following paper was then read : 



NOTES ON THE SEASON OF 1896. 



Bv the Rev. Thomas W. Fyles, F. L. S., South Quebec. 



For half of the year Quebec seems to be the very throne of the ice king. The 

 •winters are long, and, in them, the storms are frequent, and the frosts severe. This 

 spring people were crossing the St. Lawrence on the ice till St. George's day (April 23rdj. 

 When the " bridge " broke up a school-girl and one or two other persons were taken from 

 the floating masses in canoes. Frost and snow come upon us in the end of October. 

 The season then for out door Entomological work is a brief one — little can be done before 

 the first of May, and but little after the end of September. 



The fancy of the English Entomologist in Canada, must often revert with regret to 

 his experiences in the old country — to his early spring work at the sallows, and his late 

 captures at ivy bloom — to his welcome of Gonepleryx rhainni in February, and his 

 farewell to Pcacilocampa populi in December. 



To those who make a practice of rearing insects there will, even in the winter 

 months, be occurrences of interest. Thus, early in the year on examining some cocoons 

 and ohrys-alids that I had in the house, I found that a fine specimen of Trogus fulolpes, 

 Cresson, had made its exit from a pupa of Pap Mo Turnui, Linn. 



From a jar of earth in which a batch of larvte of Deilephila chamasnerii, Harr. that 

 had fed on Epilobium coloratum, Muhl, had buried themselves, I obtained— not the 

 moths I expected, but — a number of two-winged flies of the species Maslara anoni/ma, 

 Riley. The miggots of this species had destroyed th9 larvse of the moth. 



Our long winters afford us many opportunities for going over our summer captures, 

 for identifying them and placing them in their proper order. And here I would record 

 the capture at Sherbrooke, on the 25th ot May, 1895, by the Rev. Abbe Begin, of that 

 very rare and elegant butterfly Thecla losla, Edw. It was sent to me in February of this 

 year for identification. 



The following is a description of it : 



Thecla L^eta, Edwards, (Male). 



Colour above : — Black with a purple blush, Near the hind margin of the secondaries 

 are three ultramarine patches, with a black reniform spot near the outer edge of each. 



Colour beneath : — Ash grey approaching to brown with a slight blush of purple on 

 the primaries. Towards the hind margin of these there is an indistinct line, with a 

 touch of light red near the upper part of it. 



On the secondaries there is an irregular, but curved, row of light red spots, each 

 with an outer edge of white. Near the outer angle there are three other such spots with 

 the inner edge of white. 



One of our earliest species is Brephos infans, Moesch. It is found in the birch 

 woods around Montreal, while the snow is yet on the ground. I have not found the 

 apecies in this neighbourhood though I have often searched for it. 



It is a common saying at Qaebec, "We have no spring." Summer seems to burst 

 upon us all at once. This year on the 19th of April the swallows came ; on the 21st 

 flocks of ground-birds appeared; on the 26th the first hibernated butterfly shewed itself. 



The first caterpillars to appear openly are the " Woolly Bears." Full grown speci- 

 mens of Phragmatobia rubricosa, Harr. may be seen in April, shuffling over the snow. In 

 colour they are soft seal brown, slightly darker towards the head. The head is black 

 and shining, and the feet are reddish brown. The specimens I have taken have not 

 seemed inclined to feed, but have soon spun themselves up. Their cocoons have been 

 light, and have had the larval hairs entangled in the meshes. 



There is usually a space under the snowbank*, in the spring, caused by the warmth 

 of the earth, and in this space vegetation commences. The creatures therefore may 

 have fed up before they appeared upon the surface. 



