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published in St. John, N.B., a most excellent series of illustrated popular articles is 

 appearing from the pen of Principal A. H. McKay, of Pictou, N.S. These are in the 

 shape of addresses to an imaginary class at " Ferndale School," and from their simplicity 

 and accuracy will certainly be intelligible to all and give much instruction. 



From this it will be seen that anyone now-a-days who wishes to obtain knowledge 

 •concerning injurious and beneficial insects can do so with very little trouble. 



The ease with which parcels of specimens and books may now be sent by mail and 

 the low rates of postage, as well as the extensive development of systems of railways in 

 all the Provinces of the Dominion, by which it is now possible to communicate in a few 

 days with many localities previously inaccessible, bring it within the power of all to 

 obtain almost any desired information. It is my duty, however, to remind you that these 

 advantages also bring with them their responsibilities, and I take the liberty, therefore, 

 of suggesting certain lines of study in which I believe more work should be done by our 

 members. Our monthly magazine still maintains its character as a high-class scientific 

 magazine, and should be, as it doubtless is by most, carefully read by all our members. 



I should, however, be glad to see some new names amongst the contributors. There 

 are also certain orders of insects which receive little attention at our hands, and the work, 

 although good, is being done by too small a number of workers. Amongst the lines of 

 investigation which demand our attention, I would mention, first of all, the clearing up 

 of the missing links in the life-histories of our common and conspicuous injurious and 

 beneficial insects. There is a great deal yet to be done with regard to the common 

 injurious insects, as cut-worms and wire-worms, etc. Again the advantages of easy 

 access to the North- West Territories and British Columbia by means of the Canadian 

 Pacific Eailway must not be neglected. By the completion of this great highway, con- 

 necting the Pacific with the Atlantic it is now possible for us to receive eggs of nearly all 

 the unknown species of our diurnal lepidoptera. The ease with which these can be 

 reared from the egg has been explained in the Canadian Entomologist by our highly 

 esteemed contributor, Mr. W. H. Edwards. The keen pleasure to be derived from 

 breeding insects and watching them through all their stages can only be appreciated by 

 those who have tried it. All I can say is that I, for my part, have never derived more 

 true pleasure from any occupation. The excitement of catching the female, the anxiety 

 to kuow whether she will lay eggs and whether these will hatch, then watching the small 

 larva; through their successive moults till they are full grown, and the final emergence of 

 the perfect insect, all are intensely interesting. Now the large number of Canadian 

 lepidoptera of which the preparatory stages are unknown, but of which we could with 

 comparative ease obtain eggs, should surely induce some of us to make a great effort to 

 clear up some of these points. Let us, at any rate, try to have a few of them disposed of 

 before the next annual meeting. 



Another study of enormous importance which might well receive more attention is 

 that of the dipterous and hymenopterous parasites of injurious insects. Mr. Harrington, 

 of our Council, has done good work in this line. The Abbe Provancher, of Quebec, has 

 also in his excellent little magazine, La Nataraliste Canadien, published lately much 

 valuable information concerning both the hymenoptera and the hemiptera. 



In this connection I would mention a curious discovery made during the past 

 summer. In examining the seeds of the common Canada thistle with a-view to finding 

 out the extent of their fertility, I was surprised to find that in nearly every head most of 

 the seeds had been destroyed by a white dipterous larva, which was generally placed head 

 downwards, only showing a brown disk with two pores on the upper end. It had a 

 peculiar habit of enveloping itself with the pappus of the thistle, which was wrapped 

 tightly round it, as though the larva had twisted itself round and round and drawn the 

 silky pappus with it until a thick wad was formed. This is probably as a protection 

 during the winter, for most of these larvae were mature, and some which I have in breed- 

 ing jars remain quiet in these coverings. I was naturally much interested in this 

 beneficial insect which had suddenly developed in such large numbers ; but my surprise 

 was great when I found that from upwards of 200 specimens collected, most of them pro- 

 duced h small parasitic hymenopterous fly of a kind unknown to me. We had then the 

 somewhat paradoxical result of an insect parasitic upon another insect being noxious ; but 



