25 



Field Notes— 1881. 



The earth, covered by its lirst mantle of snow, reminds one that the collecting season 

 is virtually ended, and the lengthening evenings allure one to the study fireside to go 

 carefully over note-books and collections and to read the recorded labours of fellow- 

 Entomologists. 



A few memoranda from my own note-book may perhaps not be barren of interest to 

 some of the less experienced readers of the Entomologist. I find that almost the first 

 insect of spring was the Mud-wasp ( Polestes annulatus J, which appeared with a few flies 

 -and spiders about the 15th of March. This wasp is very abundant here, and from the 

 pulverized macadam of the streets thousands of its mud cells are constructed every 

 summer under the window-sills and numerous cornices of the Parliament Buildings, about 

 which the wasps linger until the end of October. Toward the end of March a few bees 

 and a number of small beetles, as Amara intei-stitialis, appeared. Pier is rapce, the cab- 

 bage butterfly, was observed on April 1st, but from this date to the 8th of the month a 

 severe cold spell (thermometer touching zero) reduced insect appearances to the minimum 

 again. At its conclusion they emerged in still greater variety and number ; Vanessa 

 untiopa flitted about in sunny glades of the wood ; Cicindela louiiurea enlivened the 

 fields, and its relatives, C. vulgaris and C. sex-guttata, the roads. Mosquitoes came in 

 full force a fortnight later, and on the 24th I obtained a number of Bujrrestidoi upon 

 young pines, viz., 1 6 and 2 9 C. virginiensis, and 14 S and 13 9 (7. liberta. I was 

 somewhat surprised to find them so early in the year, yet could have taken many more. 

 They were generally paired, in several instances copulating. Great numbers of Saw-flies 

 were also upon the pines. A few days later I captured specimens of A, striata, and by 

 the beginning of May all orders of insects were well represented. On the 6th Serica 

 ^ericea. was abundant on the foliage of wild gooseberry bushes. Chrysomela elegans was 

 ■also unusually numerous, but I could not find upon what it fed. Platycerus quercus was 

 found eating the buds of maples and other trees. The buds were often completely eaten 

 out, and the beetles hidden from view therein. In some buds a male and female were 

 found copulating. This beetle was new to my collection, but I found them frequently 

 again during the summer when using a beating net. During May the curious larvae of 

 certain Lampyridce were often seen in damp woods, crawling on the trunks of trees, such 

 as cedar, or affixed by the tail to the bark, undergoing their metamorphoses in a similar 

 manner to the larvae of the Ooccinellidce. Some reared at home emerged as Photinus 

 angulatus. The larvae, and to a less degree, the pupae, emitted a strong greenish glow 

 from two of the posterior segments; the imago being, of course, one of our common 

 fire-flies." Some of the larvae were thickly covered beneath with small ticks, of a bright 

 vermilion colour, which had their pointed heads plunged between the armoured segments 

 •of the larvae. They were not easily dislodged, but walked rapidly when free. By these 

 little parasites the larvae were so weakened as to perish before completing their transfor- 

 mations. The warm weather of mid-May brought forth increased hosts of insects, and 

 the sultry air, especially in the neighbourhood of lumber yards, swarmed with Scolytidce, 

 «tc. Toward the end of the month I took a trip, with three friends, to the Wakefield 

 Cave, about twenty miles north of the city, and in my spare moments collected a number 

 of insects in that vicinity. Cicindelidoi especially abounded on the sandy hill-side roads, 

 and I captured three species which are rare, or not found about here, viz., C. 12-guttata, 

 C. longalabris, and C. limhalis. On my way back I took a specimen of G. sex-guttata 

 having only two spots (the anterior one on each elytron). Although called Six-spotted 

 Tiger Beetles, very many have eight spots, and specimens with ten spots are frequently 

 taken. In a beech grove at Chelsea, Ithycerus curculionides was very abundant ; several 

 •could be seen on nearly every tree ; many pairs were copulating. Where do the larvae 

 live? On the 31st of May several specimens of C. Harrisi were taken on pine saplings, 

 and H. Pales and its long-snouted relatives were in full force. On June 4th, Saperda 

 vestita, Oberea amabilis, B. nasicus, C. nenuphar, A. quadrigibbus, and many other w^ee_ 

 vils, elaters, etc., were noted. At an excursion of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club to 

 Montebello (45 miles down the river), on 26th June, I captured 129 species of Coleoptera, 



