The past season was remarkable, in our locality, for the general scarcity of diurnal Lepidoptera, and also of many of the Coleoptera, especially among the Scarabeidæ, Cerambycidæ and Buprestidæ. Many species of these, usually plentiful, seemed rare this year, and even Lachnosterna fusca was not nearly so abundant or injurious as it is generally. Perhaps, with the exception of Colias philodice, the most common butterfly was D. archippus, which I have never seen so common. I do not think I saw a single specimen of P. cardui, although it was very abundant last year. Pieris rapœ was less numerous and appears to be decreasing in numbers every year, largely owing, no doubt, to the attacks of the parasite Pteromalus puparum. The birds also, especially the Fly-catchers, do not get full credit for the good work they do. Insects of all other orders seemed to be about as abundant as usual, and several species proved to be more than usually numerous and destructive.

The following are some notes on a dozen of the more interesting species of Staphylinidœ which I have found in this vicinity. Two of the species, which will be duly given, were determined by M. Fauvel. All the others were identified by Dr. Horn.

Falagria dissecta Er. Numbers of this almost minute species were taken 8 Oct., 1884, in, on and under decaying and rain-soaked fragments of a large, reddish-tinged fungus growth, which I had previously plucked and broken to pieces to obtain Phenolia grossa Fab.

Ceophyllus monilis Lec. Several of these curious little coleopters were taken May 11th, from a colony of ants inhabiting under a flat stone. This ant is honey yellow, .18 inch in length, very sluggish in its movements, and not disposed to be vicious; it seems to be the same as that with which Batrisus bistriatus is found (also in May), and is perhaps Lasius integerrimus, Mayr., which Mr. E. A. Schwarz thinks is the name of the ant with which on several occasions he found the same beetle in Michigan in early spring.

The beetles were on the under side of the stone distributed among the ants, and taking alarm immediately on its being overturned, scampered off so quickly into the underground galleries that only a few could be captured.

The members of the genus Oryssus are appareutly rare in Canada, and I was therefore much pleased to capture on the 2nd June a fine ♀ O. sayi. It was running up and down a telegraph pole (one of the new ones put up for the electric light wires), and had at first glance all the appearance of some small wasp (Crabrolidæ), searching for a suitable hole for its nest. Its movements were very quick, and its antennæ vibrated rapidly. It was so alert and restless that my prospects of capturing it without a net seemed far from bright. However, the capture was made, and its struggles in my cyanide bottle were brief. A few days later I took a ♂ upon one of the same poles, although in a different part of the city, and saw what appeared to be another of these insects fly away from higher up the pole. On the 24th I secured another female, which was even more active than the first, and which flew away and returned to the same place twice before I effected its capture. This habit of flying away when disturbed and of returning, even from some distance, to the very spot left, is one which I have noticed in other species of Uroceridæ.

But little attention seems to have been given to Micro-Lepidoptera by Canadian collectors hitherto, so far as can be gathered from the printed lists, 83 names being all that could be reached when the latest one was published. It is certainly not for want of an abundance of material to work upon. I turned my attention to them specially last summer, and was quite surprised to find that so many different species could be obtained when sought for, considering that the season was a most unfavorable one for collecting generally, and no doubt affected them similarly.

Among the Tenthredinidæ captured by me during the past season was a good series of Tenthredo delta Prov, consisting of 12 females and 26 males. In pinning them I was frequently struck by the evident irregularity of the venation of the wings, and on a more careful examination of the specimens I find these irregularities to be both numerous and remarkable. No other species represented in my cabinet show any such divergencies from the typical form, except in rare instances. Provancher describes the female (page 210, “Petite Faune Entomologique du Canada”) as having two discoidal cells in under wings, and Cresson (“Trans. Am. Ent. Soc.,” vol. viii., page 44) as having one or two middle cells. One middle cell appears to be the rule, and any deviation therefrom to be an exception. Of my 12 specimens, 10 have one middle cell each, one has two middle cells, and the other none. The males are more uniform apparently in their venation, as none of my 26 specimens have middle cells in the under wings, thus agreeing with the description given by Cresson (loc. cit). Apart from the varying number of middle cells, the under wing of the females have the cells varying much in shape, especially the middle one, which ranges from a small triangular form to a large foursided (square or irregular) one. There are also occasionally small additional cells on the posterior margin.

The beetles enumerated below were all taken by myself in the neighbourhood of Victoria, Vancouver Island, during the past few seasons. Some of the larger species, especially the Colosomas, were captured under heaps of rubbish in my garden. The species of Omus and Cychrus and many others were found while searching for land shells under oak logs in the woods. Very many kinds too were found under stones, also during search for shells, while most of the rarer kinds were taken, accidentally I might say, while flying in the sunshine.

The number of specimens of Carabidae that could be collected here is very large, individuals being in fact far more numerous than I have ever seen them anywhere else, and I feel confident that a season's careful working would almost double my present list of species.

Length of larva, one and one-eighth inches; breadth at widest part, three-sixteenths of an inch. The body flattened beneath, and slightly rounded above. It is scalloped along the sides. The legs proper are long and projecting. The creature has the habit of twisting the last four or five segments to one side. When disturbed it throws itself into the usual attitude of a Nematus larva. Its general color is yellow—the head has an orange tinge. There are ten rows of black spots on the body—six rows along the back, one row on each side, and two rows underneath. The spots of the side rows are longer than the rest, and are placed olre on the fore part of each scallop. In each of the rows on the back the spots run three to a segment. The last segment has no spots. The eyes of the larva are black, and the mandibles are brown. The creature forms a rather loose, white cocoon.

Read at the Annual Meeting of the Ent. Soc. Ont.

The earliest species which I noted during the past season, was the common and obnoxious currant saw-fly, Nematus ventricosus, which appeared on 15th May. Two days later I captured upon willow in bloom a specimen of Dolerus collaris, and on the 21st and 22nd found D. aprilis quite common on and about alders, with a few D. sericeus? and D. abdominalis. By the 24th May the strawberry saw-fly, Emphytus maculatus, and the raspberry saw-fly, Selandria rubi, were in considerable numbers, and at the same time appeared several less well known species in fields and woods, such as Hylotoma McCleayi. This species I found again on 2nd June and subsequent days, upon the flowers of choke-cherry. Later in the season specimens were found upon Spiræa. Selandria flavipes was captured on 10th June, and was abundant during the season. It could always be obtained by using a sweeping-net among the common fern. At the same time could be obtained in abundance upon the ferns greenish larvae which I have no doubt were those of that species.