Insect Life on the Western Arctic Coast of America 39k 



abundant. The absence of green leaves for nine months in the year may be a 

 contributing cause, but the permanently frozen ground is probably the main 

 factor. Grasshoppers lay their eggs in the ground, and as the surface, except in 

 bare, sandy places, thaws for only a few inches, it may be impossible for grass- 

 hoppers to develop. Mr. Norman Griddle, of Treesbank, Man., states that the 

 grasshoppers known to go farthest north in Ganada hibernate as nymphs, and 

 that the eggs are laid about a month after the beginning of spring. In the 

 Arctic this would be about July 1, and the two remaining summer months are 

 perhaps not sufficient for the nymphs to grow large enough to withstand the 

 winter, even if the eggs were laid in the ground and hatched out.^ 



The absence of true bees in the Arctic is perhaps due to the scarcity of 

 flowers from which pollen and honey can be secured, and to the absence of suit- 

 able trees, etc., for nest-building. Sawflies (Nematus) were collected at latitude 

 72 degrees north, longitude 94 degrees east {"Fox" Expedition), and on Elles- 

 mere island (2nd Fram Expedition). "Formica rubra" from Parry's and Ross's 

 voyage was probably introduced, if the identification is correct. 



As to the beetles found beyond the tree limit in the American Arctic, it is 

 probable that those dependent on decaying matter, and those directly (chrys- 

 omelidae, rhynchopora, elateridae) or indirectly (plant-lice-feeders, coccinelli- 

 dae) dependent upon green leaves do not go as far north as the predacious f am- 

 ihes (carabidse, staphylinids) and the water beetles (dytiscidse) .^ None of 

 the four first-named families have, it is believed, been found in the Canadian 

 Arctic archipelago. Of the three families of predacious beetles, it may be 

 assumed that those (Carabidse, Dytiscidae) depending upon larger prey do not 

 go so far north as the family (staphylinidse) feeding upon more minute organisms. 



Micralymma was collected at cape Sabine; Lethridius in Alexandra fjord; 

 Cryptophagus in Foulkes fjord (2nd Fram Expedition). The diminishing periods 

 in which fresh water is ice-free as the high north is approached may be related 

 to the eventual disappearance of the dytiscids and other aquatic insects. 

 Dytiscids were collected on Parry's and Ross's voyages. 



Of the hemiptera (hemiptera were collected on Parry's and Ross's voyages) 

 the families (aphidse, etc.), depending upon juicy, green leaves probably do not 

 go as far north as the more agile or occult living famihes (saldidse, etc.). Aquatic 

 hemiptera seem to find the arctic'ponds unsuited for their development, though 

 some of them (Corixa) go as far north as Port Clarence, Alaska. 



Of neuropteroids, dragon-flies hardly approach the limit of trees, perhaps 

 owing to the same reason as the aquatic hemiptera; and ephemerids and perlids 

 are not known in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. The trichoptera is probably 

 the family of neuropteroids which reaches farthest north (trichopter collected 

 on Parry's and Ross's voyages), though only in certain species {Apatania, etc.); 

 probably because their larvae seem to be little influenced by their surroundings, 

 and are found in both still and running water of high or low temperature. 



Spiders (Opilio known from Ponds inlet), mites, and collembola, and insects 

 parasitic upon mammals and birds have been found as far north as there is land; 

 and the same seems to be the case with at least some of the lepidotera (both 

 butterflies and moths) preferring certain plants. It may be assumed that at 

 the highest latitudes (say beyond latitude 80 degrees north) on both sides of 

 Kennedy-Robeson channels these latter orders comprise the bulk of the insect 

 fauna together with sawflies, bumblebees, and parasitic wasps, diptera, and 

 minute hemiptera and beetles.' 



1 Professor B. M. Walker, of Toronto, claims that all the Melanoplua species pass the 

 winter in the egg-stage. The northv/ard distribution of grasshoppers on this continent is 

 treated in his Canadian Arctic Expedition report, vol. Ill, Part J. 



2 Beetle (Platyderus) known from lat. 72° N., long 94° W. ("Fox"). 



'^ See the insects secured by the Polaris expedition, and identified by A. S. Packard, Jr., 

 in "The American Naturalist," Vol. XI, 1877, pp. ol-,=i3. 



