ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



Mr. H. H. Lyman then read a paper on " The preparatory stages of Erebia epipsodea, 

 Butler." (See Canadian Entomologist, volume xxviii, November, 1896, pages 274 278.) 



Mr. Lymau also presented a paper on some remarkable aberrations in Colias 

 pJiilodice and Vanessa antiopa, and exhibited the singular specimens referred to. Those 

 of the forner species were taken by Mr D wight Brainerd, of Montreal, at Edgartown, 

 Mass., in August last. (See Canadian Entomohyist, volume xxviii, December, 1896, pages 

 505-6.) ; the suffused black specimen of V. antiopa was captured in British Columbia. 



Election of Officers. 

 The following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year : (See page 2.) 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. J. W. Dearness, at 2.30 o'clock 

 p.m. The following paper was then read by Dr. Bethune : 



NOTES ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR 1896. 



By Rev. C. J. S. Bethdns, Port Hope. 



The Army Worm. 



The season of 1896 is chiefly remarkable, from an entomological point cf view, for 

 the outbreak of the army worm in this Province of Ontaiio. The insect, in its winged 

 state at any rate, has long been familiar to every collector and is every year more or less 

 abundant. We have all read accounts from time to time of its ravages in various parts 

 of the United States, but hitherto we have been free from any serious invasions in this 

 country. As this year's outbreak is being fully discussed by others, I shall merely 

 mention what has come undtr my own observation. 



On the 17th of July I received the following note from the Rev. Stearne Tighe of 

 Emerald, Amherst Island : " I send you to-day by mail, specimens of a grub that is 

 destroying all grain, etc, on this Island. What is it? Is there any way of destroying 

 it, or arresting its ravages ? This Island contains 15,000 square acres, and is at its- 

 nearest point two miles from the mainland." I at once recognized the specimens to be 

 the notorious "army-worm " (Leucania unipunctata), which had already been reported in 

 the newspapers as having appeared in injurious numbers in various parts of the province. 

 I immediately wrote to Mr. Tighe and informed him of the usual remedies, namely, 

 plowing a deep furrow to stop the onward march of the " army," if it were moving on 

 from field to field, and destroying the caterpillars thus collected by burning with straw 

 spread along the furrow or dragging a log of wood through it ; or, if the worms were 

 congregated in a field of grain, treating tlem with Paris green in order to prevent their 

 going further. The specimens sent to me proved to be badly infested with maggots, the 

 larvse of a Tachina fly, and only one in consequence succeeded in reaching the chrysalis 

 state, the rest being destroyed by their parasites. If the same proportion of worms were 

 attacked in the fields of Amherst Island, there is not much danger of a repetition of the 

 outbreak next year. 



A few days later in the month, specimens of the same " army- worm " were brought 

 to me from a field of grain adjoining my own garden at Port Hope. They were then 

 fully grown and had done a great deal of damage by gnawing the soft grain in the wheat- 

 ears. The farmer, whose crop was thus injured, informed me that the worms had crossed 

 the road in the form of an " army " on a Sunday afternoon (where they had come from 

 no one had observed) and at once proceeded to scatter over the wheat field and climb up 



