7 



unable to determine the species to which it belonged ; it is pleasing, however, to know- 

 that there are several friendly helpers among the insect tribes aiding man in his efforts to 

 subdue tliis obnoxious insect. 



The Codling Moth of the apple is less abundant than usual this year, a scarcity which 

 may be attributed to the early hatching of the moths during the very warm days of spring, 

 and many of them perishing before the blossoms of the apple were sufficiently far advanced 

 for them to operate on. Attention has been called again to the curious fact already 

 noted in Europe many years ago, that the larva of this insect is s(fmetimes occupied by a 

 strange parasite, a species cf Mermis, known commonly as a hair-snake, a name probably 

 due to the absurd belief, not yet quite extinct, that horse-hairs placed in water eventually 

 become endued with life, and change to hair-snakes. Several instances have occurred of 

 late in the United States of these remarkable creatures being found in the interior of 

 apples, where they had lived as parasites on the Codling worm, and having destroyed their 

 host, remained in the fruit about the middle, where they were in danger of being eaten. 



The Plum Curculio is no longer a stranger in that once famed plum-producing district 

 of which Goderich is the centre. So plentiful has it become there now that some plum- 

 growers are becoming quite discouraged and ready to give up the culture of the fruit en- 

 tirely. This troublesome insect has not yet been reported from the Owen Sound district, 

 where plum-culture is still extensively and profitably carried on. 



The importance of the study of natural history in our schools, especially the branch 

 of Entomology, is beginning to be recognized, and I trust the day is not far distant when 

 every public school will have its museum of natural history objects, where the children 

 can be taught with the specimens before them the names and habits of the commoner 

 mammals, birds, insects, and plants, with which they must constantly come in contact. Such 

 studies would, in my opinion, strengthen the intellect and cultivate the memory and other 

 faculties of the mind more thorougldy than many of the more abstract studies now speci- 

 ally designed for that purpose, while the practical value of such knowledge to the fortun- 

 ate possessor, in after life, can scarcely be over-estimated. I am glad to state that at the 

 Model Farm in Guelph the important study of insects injurious to agriculture is regularly 

 taught, with the aid of a very fair collection of specimens. 



The meeting of the Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science was held this year at Sti Louis, where some very interesting papers on 

 destructive insects were read, and some curious facts in reference to insect life elicited. 

 Our Society was ably represented by a member of our Editing Committee, Mr. E. B. Reed. 

 It will doubtless be a source of gratification to you to learn that your President has again 

 been honoured with the Vice-Presidency of that distinguished bod}'' of naturalists. 



During the year some interesting additions have been made to our Entomological 

 literature, which we can only now partially and briefly enumerate. Among the most 

 valuable are the Entomological Contributions," by J. A. Lintner ; " Descriptions of 

 Noctuidae," by A. R Grote ; " Food Plants of the Tineina, with Descriptions of New 

 Species," by Y. T. Chambers, both published in the Bulletin of the United States Geo- 

 logical and Geographical Survey ; "Manual of the Apiary," by A. J. Cook ; on " Sexual 

 Dimorphism in Butterflies," by Samuel H. Scudder ; also several papers by the same 

 author on fossil insects found in the Rocky Mountains, and in the Tertiary Beds at 

 Quesnel, in British Columbia ; " Insects Injurious to the Cotton Plant," with many plates, 

 by Townend Glover ; On the Butterflies and Moths of North America," by Hermann 

 Strecker. Several additional numbers of Edwards' " Butterflies of North America" have 

 appeared, each one rivalling or surpassing its predecessor in the exquisite beauty of the 

 plates illustrating the species described. 



The publications of our own Society have been creditably maintained. Our Annual Re- 

 port to the Department of Agriculture for the past year has been very favourably noticed, 

 and our Canadian Entomologist has been issued regularly, its pages being well filled, chiefly 

 with the records of original observations. The contributors to our last volume numbered 

 no less than forty-five, and included the names of nearly every Entomologist of note on 

 the continent. During the year we have published two handsome lithographic plates, one 

 on wood-boring beetles, illustrating eight species ; the other, which is printed in colours, 

 exhibits the full-grown larva of that rare and interesting moth, Samia Columbia. Among 

 the most valuable papers I would mention those of W. H. Edwards, on the preparatory 



