31 



Prof. Cook confirmed this statement. He had, in laboratory experiments, carried 

 over the pupae of the spring brood until the following summer, and in the same way the 

 codling moth has been carried over. 



In the afternoon the Entomologists and Botanists joined in an excursion by steamer 

 to Sandy Hook, which proved very interesting and agreeable. 



On Thursday, August 11th, the Club met again. 



Prof. Saunders, of Ottawa, gave a brief review of what had been done recently in 

 the way of establishing Experiment Stations in Canada, at which Entomology in its rela- 

 tions to Agriculture formed one of the subjects of experiment. Five stations are proposed — 

 a central station at Ottawa, a 2nd in the Maritime Provinces, a 3rd in Manitoba, a 4th in 

 the 1ST. W. Territory and the 5th in British Columbia. At the Central Station an Ento- 

 mologist — Mr. Fletcher — has been appointed, and a collection of insects of all the sections 

 will be formed there. It is intended also that bulletins be issued several times in the 

 course of the year to interest the public in the work and demonstrate its general utility. 

 He had been travelling about a great deal during the past year and had done little 

 Entomological work ; but he had noticed this spring near Ottawa the larva of Vansssa 

 antiopa in immense numbers, stripping willows. It is not usually common with them. 

 In Nova Scotia he saw Satyrus alope and nephele in great numbers, with all sorts of in- 

 tergrades between. He also found the potato beetle there, which appears in this section 

 for the first time. The growers there follow the old fashioned plan of knocking them into 

 a pan with a stick. 



Dr. Morris stated that Crioceris asparagi had reached them at Baltimore and proved 

 very destructive. Prof. Saunders said it was not yet found in Canada. Prof. Comstock 

 said he had found it as far west as Geneva, N.Y. The insect seems to have started from 

 Long Island. 



Prof. Cook said that the method of knocking the potato beetles from the plants with 

 a stick, is both old and new, for one of the lai^gest growers of potatoes in his section of 

 the country had returned to it after trying all kinds of poisons. He claimed it was 

 cheaper for him to destroy them in that way, and while Prof. Cook did not understand 

 how this could be possible, yet this farmer claims it is so and follows out his belief. 



Prof. Saunders said that in the Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick, he found the larch saw-fly {Nematus erichsonii), extremely abundant and 

 destructive. 



Mr. E. C. M. Rand, of New York exhibited some specimens of Coleoptera taken 

 from a mummy, and suggested they might be of interest, as' perhaps old types. The 

 mummy dated back at least as far as 1200 B.C ., and he explained the number of 

 wrappers and method of covering, and stated that channels had been made in the 

 wrappers, and in these some of the bettles were found. 



Prof. Claypole explained the use of gasoline for collecting purposes. (See his paper : 

 " A Practical note on Collecting Insects.") He also exhibited an insect case used by him, 

 which he claims to be superior to any equally cheap contrivance. It consists of a box 

 frame into which a glass top is permanently fixed ; the bottom is corked, or not, as 

 desired ; it is filled with specimens and then screwed to the frame. 



Prof. Cook said that he had tried gasoline, and found it much less rapid and 

 certain than cyanide properly prepared ; he did not believe in it at all. 



Mr. J. B. Smith objected to Prof. Clay pole's case that it was too inconvenient to 

 use, as to get at an insect meant unscrewing the bottom and replacing it. A collection 

 so preserved was useless except for the most superficial comparisons. 



Prof. Comstock explained a contrivance for watching the early stages of Hymenop- 

 tera nesting in stems of plants. He took a number of slender glass tubes, covered them 

 on the outside with dark paper, and hung them on bushes frequented by such bees. 

 He exhibited several of these tubes in which the bees had nested, containing larva? in 

 various stages of developement. The whole life history can thus be watched with very 

 little trouble. 



