64 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



Of the parasitic Hymenoptera described by Mr. Aehmead and myself the condition 

 is much like that mentioned by Dr. Williston. The study of the South and Central 

 American forms is not sufficiently advanced to enable any definite conclusions. Mr. 

 Ashmead is of the opinion that the general character of the collections in the families 

 which he has worked up is Central American, but it is only fair to say that the only 

 South American collections which can be compared are those made in the interior of 

 Brazil by Mr. H. H. Smith. 



And this introduces what is probably the pith of the whole question of distribution. 

 "We mu6t have full collections from the coast of North and South America, as well as full 

 collections from the interior, with elevations carefully noted, before we can speak authori- 

 tatively. It has been suggested that the coast fauna of the entire Caribbean Sea is 

 practically the same and that the tableland further to the interior is also practically the 

 same. That many Central American forms extend through the chain of West India islands 

 is undoubted, but whether the entire character of the fauna from one end of these islands 

 to the other is Central American, yet remains to be proved. The opinions which T have 

 quoted show the uncertainty which yet exists, but it is to be hoped that with the publica- 

 tion of the other papers, and the consideration of the entire results, there may be some 

 satisfactory outcome. 



It is gratifying to observe that American systematists are receiving deserved recog" 

 nition at the hands of the British Committee. No less than eight American entomologists 

 have been or are engaged upon the collections. It is a pity, however, that investigations 

 of this character, so pregnant in possibility of valuable results, cannot be undertaken 

 under American auspices. Our lack of thorough knowledge of the faunas and floras of 

 the many interesting regions within our own domain is apparent to all workers. Our 

 own Association is too poor to make successive grants of the magnitude of those made by 

 the British Association, but the subject is one which should be agitated by all of us. 

 Explorations are being made by the general government and by educational institutions, 

 but in general, although the plants and the larger animals receive a fair degree of 

 attention, the minute creatures, and particularly the insects, are, in the main, neglected. 



PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES. 



By J. Alston Moffat, London, Ontario. 



That the harmonizing of living beings to their surroundings in nature is protective in 

 its influence, does not admit of a doubt, and those who have had the greatest opportunity 

 for observing life in its native conditions are those who are most impressed with the fact. 

 Tropical countries are those where examples of it are most numerous, and probably 

 more striking than in temperate and more northerly regions, for one good reason at least, 

 that life there is more abundant and diversified ; and in insect life especially is this the 

 case. Writers upon the subject draw their most surprising examples of it as a rule from 

 southern sources, yet many instructive illustrations of the same principle can be found in 

 our own country. Everyone that has engaged in the health producing and delightful 

 recreation of collecting and observing the habits o' insects during a ramble over moun- 

 tain and meadow, through wood and marshes, or along a lake shore, can give of his own 

 experience instances of how completely his senses were imposed upon by appearances. A 

 familiar example is the Geometrid larva? that resemble closely the branch of the tree on 

 which they rest, some of them standing out at an angle from the branch like a bit of 

 broken twig, that requires close observation to make sure that it i* not what it appears 

 to be. Or Catocala moths, that are so much like the bark of the tree upon which they 

 are at rest that even a trained eye does not always detect them. When collecting 

 them in the day time I have switched a tree, started one and watched it alight upon 

 another, then got within four feet of it and many a time failed to discover it, although I 

 knew it must be right before my eyes, and had to start it again before I could get another 

 sight of it. So closely at times does the animate resemble the inanimate. 



