QUARTERLY DECEMBER, 1906 N o.4 NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. ( By R. V. Har vey). No one who h as studi ed th e in sects of our province, if fresh from th e stndy of t h e forms found in Europe, ca n have fail ed to r e ma rk th e e xtraordinary s imilarity of our speci es and g e ne ra to tho se of th e Old Wor ld . An e ntomo logi s t coming str a ight out h e r e from England would h ave no troubl e in placing in th eir co rr ect ge n era nin e-te nth s of th e

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... te rfli es h e ca ug ht in Briti s h Col umbi a; he wo uld e ve n r ecogniz e several species as be ing ide nti cal w ith those of th e wes t of Europe, e.g. Po nti a ra pae, Va nes sa ca r du i, and a t a la nt a, V. a ntiop a, and Pa m phi la pa lae mo n ( mandan). A mong the moths, too, h e would find old acquaintan ces, s uc h as,--De ilep hil a ga li i, Arcti a ca ia, P er id ro ma sau c ia , and Scoli o pteryx li bat r ix. But he wo uld be c hi e fly stru ck by th e number of species so closely a lli ed to those of Britain a s to r equire a ca r e ful e xamination to diff e rentiate th e m . H, however , our e n tomo log ist wer e to ma k e a le ngth e n ed stay in Easte rn Canada, he would find by no m ean s th e sam e c lose co rr es ponde n ce be tw ee n th e n ew fa una and that which h e kn e w at hom e. H e wou ld noti ce 1110re strang e-looking s pe Cies, a nd more gen e r a to which h e could not a ss ign a n am e, and whose aspect was decid ed ly more tropical. Why, h e might as k , s hould a joul'l1ey of th r ee thou sand miles farth e r west bring m e to a fauna mu ch 1I10re lik e that whi c h I left be hi n d in England? This, then, is th e qu es tion wh ic h I propose to di sc uss . Th e r e are, fir s t, two facts of whi c h we a r e ve r y li ab le to lose s ight. The first is that, to th e zoogeograph e r , Europe is not a co n t in e nt at a ll, but s impl y th e western portion of th e fa unal r egion , known var iou s ly as Eura s ia, or t h e Pal earctic Region , wh ic h e xtends from th e Atlantic coa s t of Europe to th e Behring Stra its and the Archipe lago of Japan . The faun a ot' thi s e norlllou s division is so homogeneous that, in th e words of Alfred \\Tallace, " t he majority of the gen e ra of animals in Great Britain and northe rn Japa n are identi ca l. " In e xe mplifi cation of this fact I h ave noted t hat, of 124 speci es of Dipte ra li s t ed [rom Japan in l SD8 by Prof. Coquillet, 30 we r e originally descr ibe d [rom Europe, (a nd of th ese 30 a bout t e n have a lr eady bee n r ecorde d from B. C.); while of th e rest he says, " th ey s o closely r esembl e European form s as to make their s pecifi c di s tin ctn ess an e xtre m e l,' diffi c ult qu estion to decide ." Furthe r , out of 83 g e ne r a of Japa n ese Dipte r a, 73 are re prese n t ed in ' o rth Am e ri ca. (To be Con t inued .) VANCOUVER NATURALISTS ' FIELD CLUB . W e note with sati sfactiou th e form a tion of a Natu r ali s t s' Fi eld Club at Vancouver , and wish eve ry s u ccess to thi s new SOcie t y. Several fi e ld-da ys, mostly of a botanical n a tur e, w e r e h eld in Se pte mb e r , pr ev io us to t he fir s t annual m ee ting, which took place on Oc tob e r 6th. MI'. ~Williall1 Burn s, Prin cilJa I 01' th e Va ncouv e r No rma l Sc hoo l, was e lect ed Pres ide nt of the Club and r ead an in te r es ting paper o n th e value ot' local associations . Two oth e r m eetings h ave bee n h eld , a nd pa pe r s r ead by Mi ss Eaton, on the Lemurid ae, and MI'. R. V. Harv ey, on In sect Mimi c ry. Many of our m e mb e r s ha ve joine d th is club, and we have no do ubt that exce ll e n t wo rk wi ll be don e in the val'ious bra n c hes of natural Sci en ce . THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LIST . A Ch ec k Li st of Br it ish Co lumb ia n Le pido ptera. This Catalogu e, whi c h has r ecentl y b ee n printe d by th e Provincia l De partm e n t of Agr ic ultur e, is in man y r es pects a great improveme n t on th e la s t li st. Many doubtfu l names have been omitted, a nd man y n e w n a m es hav e bee n add ed, whil e th e arrangem e nt is a ltoge th e r be tte r. A t th e sa me tim e, th e s tudi es ot' our m e mb ers , and th eir coll ec ting trips iu to untrodd e n parts of th e province, will make it n ecessar y from tim e to tim e to make correction s a nd ad diti ons to thi s li st.