Insects of Arctic Canada

Abstract

THE insects of various orders—as well as a few spiders, mites, and centipedes—collected by members of the recent Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913–18) have been recorded and described in vol. iii. of the Report (Ottawa, 1919–20). The lists contain much information of value to. students of zoological geography. Among the Lepidoptera (described by Arthur Gibson) it is interesting to see varieties of such well-known British butterflies as Pieris napi, Papilio machaon, and Vctnessa antiopa. Most of the Coleoptera (by J. M. Swaine, H. C. Fall, C. W. Leng, and J. D. Sherman) belong to species already known in North America, and the same remark applies to the bees described by F. W. L. Sladen, who points out that buryible-bees are “particularly well adapted to Arctic conditions,” and records the capture of five nearly full-fed Bombus larwe on Melville Island (75° N. lat.) on June 21, 1916. The sawflies, described by A. G. MacGillivray, are mostly new species, and, as might have been expected, willow feeders. Among the Diptera (by C. P. Alexander, H. G. Dyar, and J. R. Malloch) there are some interesting details of larvae as well as descriptions and records of flies, which are relatively numerous in species. The occurrence of larvæ of Oedemagena tarandi—the warblefly of the European Reindeer—in Barren-ground Caribou at Bernard Harbour is noteworthy. Mosquitoes of a couple of species of the genus Ædes were observed (and felt) in swarms. As regards wingless parasites, Prof. G. H. F. Nuttall records that headlice (Pediculus caitis) from the Copper Eskimo of Coronation Gulf show no varietal distinction from members of the species found elsewhere. Dr. J. W. Folsom enumerates a dozen species cf springtails (Collembola); two only of these are new, but his figures of structural details, drawn carefully from Arctic specimens of common and widespread northern forms, will be welcome to students of this order.