12 Geo. 5 Provincial Museum Report. M 17 



ENTOMOLOGY. 

 By E. IT. Blackmore, F.E.S. 



Collecting during the past season lias not boon at all good, although, taken on the whole, 

 it has been somewhat better than the three preceding years. 



We had an exceedingly wet winter, which continued, with the exception of a few short dry 

 spells, until late in the spring. Reports from various parts of the Province all speak of poor 

 collecting weather. However, a number of rare and uncommon species were obtained by 

 various collectors, which will be noted under their respective localities. 



Early in the year Mr. Theodore Bryant, of Ladysmith, offered to donate to the Provincial 

 .Museum a large number of his duplicate Lepidoptera. Arrangements were made whereby the 

 writer was enabled to visit Mr. Bryant in the latter part of May and thereby enabled to select 

 the most desirable of the material offered. In addition, Mr. Bryant kindly loaned the writer 

 his entire collection of Microlepidoptera to work over during the winter months. We are 

 especially glad to have the use of this collection, as it contains most of the identical specimens 

 recorded from Wellington in the 1906 Check-list of British Columbia Lepidoptera; as was 

 mentioned in last year's Museum report, page 23, the large majority of species listed in this 

 group were either from Mr. Cockle, of Kaslo (1GS), or Mr. Bryant, of Wellington (94). I hope 

 to start work on this collection early in the New Year, as the greater number are simply pinned 

 and need relaxing and mounting. Many of the species are erroneously named and many need 

 verification. 



Mr. A. W. Hanham, of Duncan. B.C., has also generously placed at my disposal a large 

 number of unidentified specimens in this group. 



The European satin-moth (Stilpnotis solicit Linn.) has spread rather rapidly and has been 

 reported from several localities other than New Westminster, where it was first noticed. It 

 was found in Vancouver occupying an area several blocks square. Mr. L. E. Marmont, of 

 Maillardville, reported a heavy infestation in his district, and it has also been found at 

 Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island. I have recently identified specimens of this species for 

 Mr. J. F. Clarke, who took them at Bellingham, Wash. It is to be regretted that it is spreading 

 so rapidly, as it is likely to become a serious pest to our native poplars. 



British Columbia Insects new to Science. 



Owing to the strike in the printing trade in Eastern Canada early in the spring a number 

 of entomological magazines were held up, with the result that even now many of them are from 

 two to three months behind in their issues. Consequently, we can only list those species the 

 descriptions of which have appeared up to the time of writing this article (December 31st). 

 Any species that may be described in the belated issues will be included in next year's- 

 Provincial Museum Report. Up to date there have been forty-five insects from British Columbia 

 described as new to science during the present year. They include eight species of Lepidoptera. 

 one species of Hymenoptera (parasitic), thirty-two species of Diptera, and four species of 

 Ilemiptera. 



Lepidoptera. 



Of the eight species of Lepidoptera, one belongs to the Lycaenidse, one to the Noctuidse, one 

 to the LymantriidSE, four to the Pyralidae, and one to the Pterophoridse. They are as follows: — 



Lycwn i'lcr (Thccliinv) . 



Strymon melinus race atrofasciata McDunnough. Described in the Can. Ent., Vol. ">:>, page 

 47, Feb., 1921, from specimens taken at Wellington, B.C. (Taylor) ; Duncan, B.C. (Livingstone) : 

 Royal Oak, B.C. (Trehenie) ; and Victoria, B.C. (Cameron). The above race differs from 

 typical melinus in its deep steely-grey ground colour and the heavy black spotting on the under- 

 side. The lack of orange margin to spots alluded to in the description is not a constant character, 

 as out of a long series in my own collection there are several which have the orange margins 

 strongly pronounced. Dr. McDunnough was of the opinion that this race was confined to 

 Vancouver Island, but I have specimens from many points on the Mainland which are typical 

 of this new race, and it can safely be assumed that atrofasciata occurs throughout the whole of 

 Southern British Columbia. It is double-brooded, occurring in May and again in July. 



