ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



93 



A FEW OF THE MOST TROUBLESOME INSECTS OF THE PAST SEASON 



(1898). 



Read Before the College Officers' Literary and Scientific Society, by H. L. 

 Hutt, B.S.A.j Ont. Agricultural College. Guelph, Ont. 



As far back as I can remember, I have always taken a great deal of pleasure in 

 studying insect life. On more than one occasion can £ remember being punished and 

 disgraced in school, for investigating the jumping capabilities of a grasshopper, or squeez- 

 ing an involuntary song from a captive cicada. But that was in days gone by. Now the 

 policy of the Educational Department is to encourage the study of such subjects as were 

 then discouraged by hard knocks. 



At this institution Entomology has probably always been a part of the regular 

 course. When I began to study it systematically about ten years ago, under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. Panton, it appealed to me at once as one of the most interesting and prac- 

 tical subjects on the curriculum. And the first summer I spent at home after leaving 

 the College, all the available beehives, boxes and glass-topped section cases were con- 

 verted into breeding cages, where all transformations could be watched in the specimens 

 within. My collection that year was not confined to insects alone, but it contained a 

 variety of creatures from batrachians and lepidopterous larvae to milksnakes and their 

 eggs. And I might add that one of the most interesting methods of studying this most 

 interesting subject is to watch the transformation and habits of the insects themselves, 

 either in confinement, or as they occur in nature. 



As there is no class of society that is exempt from the losses and annoyance caused 

 by insects, a knowledge of their life history and habits is important to all, but to none 

 is it of greater importance than to the farmer and fruit-grower. 



During the past summer I received a great many letters enquiring about insects 

 affecting a wide range of crops. To deal fully with all mentioned would necessitate writ- 

 ing a book, but as the subject of this paper I have taken a few of the more common onea 

 that have been the most troublesome, and these, it will be noted, represent fairly well 

 most of the orders into which insects are usually divided. 



Fig. 61. Fig. 62. 



1. The Currant Saw-Fly, (Nemdtus ribesii). One of the earliest insects to make 

 Its appearance was the Currant Saw-Fly (Fig. 61, a the male, b the female). This belongs 

 to the Hymenoptera, or membrane winged insects, and is closely related to that most 

 industrious and beneficial of all insects — the honey-bee. 



It passes the winter usually in the pupa state, in a slight papery cocoon spun 

 Tjeneath the surface of the ground or under rubbish or leaves. From its winter quar- 



