76 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG. 15, 1952

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS while the author was on a schola rship The author wishes to thank Dr. from the National Research Council A. W . A. Brown, Head, Department of of Canada and the remainder complet­ Zoology, University of W estern On­ ed while employed by the Canada De­ tario, London, and Dr. R. H . Handford, pa rtment of Agriculture at the Officer-in-Charge, Field Crop Insect K amloops laboratory. Laboratory, Kamloops, for their very Reference helpful suggestions. The work done McLeod, VV. S. 1946. Hexachlorocyclo­ during the winter of 1950-51 w as done hexane in the con trol of the onion maggot. at the U niversity of Western Ontario J. Econ. Ent. 39 : 631-637.

OBSERV A TIONS ON THE STUDY OF BEETLES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA MELVILLE H. H.UCH University of Washington, Seattle, Washington The study of the beetles or any student of the Coleoptera in the third other group of organisms in an area quarter of the last century, records like British Columbia that was origin­ Cicindela longilabris Say and Cupes ser­ ally peripheral to the world centres of rata Lee. in 1861 from "Camp Kooten­ scientific study falls somewhat natur­ ay."! With lack of precision that is ally into several periods. First there characteristic of the coleopterological is a period of exploration, during work of the period, he failed to notice which specimens a re collected by whether the "Camp Kootenay" re· itinerant scientific collectors and ferred to was the east crossing of the brought back to the centres of scien­ international border by the K ootenay tific activity where they are studied River in Montana or its west cross­ and reported upon. Eventually, how­ ing ill Idaho. In either event, the ever, itinerant collectors give way to specimens w ere as likely t o have been resident collectors and the endemic taken on one side of the boundar y line study of the fauna gets under way. as on the other. - For long, however, the endemic col­ J ohn Keast L ord, the British natur­ lectors remain dependent on outside alist with the Commission in his Na­ aid, and it is only gradually that fully t!lralist in Vancouver Island and British endemic studies backed up by full y Columbia, 1866, refers to collecting equipped museum and library facil­ beetles at least twice: once (Vol. II, p. ities become established. 109) near Palouse-Falls in Washing­ In British Columbia the first of the ton, once (Vol. II, p. 123) along Slesse three periods in the study of the beetles (Selece) Creek, a tributa ry of the was unusually transitory. The first Chilliwack River near ChiJliwack. beetles were not collected until about H is list of 94 s p e e i e s of twenty-five yea rs a fter the first speci­ beetles published in an appendix2 tn mens had been coll ected in the Oregon his book, contains no intima ti on of Countrv to the immediate south. In localities. While some of the species British- Columbia, the fi rst specimens listed probably were collected in Brit­ to be taken seem to have been collect­ ish Columbia, others were not, and ed about the year 1859 to 1861 by the Lord is known to have travelled over­ naturalists attached t o the Anglo­ land all the way from San Francisco American Northwest Boundary Com­ to the Canadian border. His hook mission. Dr. John L. LeConte of shows him, moreover, to have been Philadelphia, the leading American preoccupied with the vertebrates. The real beginning of the scientific 1 New specie., of Coleoptera inhabiting- the Pacific study of British Columbian beetles be­ d'strict of the United States. 1'l"Oc. Acad. I\'at . :'Cl. of Philadelphia 186!, Pl'. 338·359. gan with a collection made probably ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, FROC. (1951), VOL. 48, A UG. 15, 1952 77 in the late sixties in "Vancouver the Canadian Entomologist of 76 Island and British Columbia" by species of Cicindelidae and Carabidac Henry and Joseph B. Matthews, from the vicinity of Victoria, named brothers of the Rev. Andrew Mat­ for him by Henry U lke of New York. thews, the British microclepidopterist. Lists by Brodie (1888) and Wickham The collection which Henry Matthews, (1893) represent the work of itinerant who was likewise a clergyman, collectors. The most ambitious paper brought back to England with him in was the list of 241 species from Mas­ 1869, was submitted by Andrew Mat­ sett collected by the Rev. J. H. Keen, thews to LeConte. LeConte publish­ published in the Canadian Entomolo­ ed a list of 186 species in the Annals gist in 1895. The identification of and Magazine of Natural History in Keen's specimens was arranged for the same year. He considered British by James Fletcher of Ottawa, Domin­ Columbia and Vancouver Island to be ion Entomologist, who solicited the at that time the least explored portions aid of numerous coleopterists in the of North America.3 Notable among eastern United States and Europe. A the new species described here was beginning at a Provincial list was our famous ground beetle, Zacotus mat­ made in 1906-1907 in the abortive thewsii. Three years later Andrew Bulletin of the British Columbia Matthews described two species of Entomological Society, 154 species in Amphizoa from the same source.4 Cicindelidae, Buprestidae, Coccinel­ Though George Robert Crotch col­ lidae, and Cerambycidae being listed. lected beetles about Victoria and along The status of the knowledge of the the Fraser River in 1873, these re­ beetle fauna as a whole is suggested mained the only significant publica­ by the 800 species which in 1906, were tions on British Columbian beetles for stated by the Secretary of the Society, fifteen years. R. V. Harvey of Queen's School, Van­ Wha t I would call the period of couver, to be in the provisional un­ resident collectors extends in British published list of the Society.s Columbia from about 1882, when The local collectors were completely Georg e W. Taylor settled on Van­ dependent on coleopterists residing couver Island, to about 1919, when for the most part in eastern Canada Ralph Hopping was called to Vernon. and northeastern United States for The principal Coleoptera literature, their determinations, and the western­ pertaining to the Province, that ap­ ers' contribution consisted almost ex­ pea red during this forty year period clusively in collecting material and consisted of about a dozen or fifteen transcribing the names assigned to scpa ra tc short lists plus an annual it by others. There was no attempt listin g. beginning in 1902, of 25 or 30 at independent study because, as W. or more species in the Annual Report Downes explained to me some years flf the Entomological Society of ago, of the almost complete lack of Ontario. basic literature. This was a lack The first endemic beetle w ork in the which neither the public nor the Province was Taylor's 1886 list in private financial resources of the 2 Li , t of Coleoptera, Vol. IT, pp. 309·334. The list region was able to make good. In wa. prepared by Francis \Valker (1809· 1874), en· this connection, one not est h e tomologis t a t the Rritish ~M , use um, whuse aut~orship is attes ted to on p. 290. For comments on thts pub­ acknowledg ment of A. H. Bush, in a lication ,ee LeConte, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 4 (6), IH70, pp. 395, 399-402. 1914 list of 106 species from l\/Iount Another iS imilar publication is LeConte, List of Coleoptera, Geol. Surv. Can. Rept. of Prog. 1875 -76, Cheam, of the help in identification of 1&77, p,.. 107· 109. 14j species are listed; but there is nothing- to indicate which of the species \~.e re Dr. E. C. Van Dyke of San Francisco. t aken in British Columbia and where, and which, The endemic centres of beetle-study if any, were secured in Alberta or even further east! 3 See ,eLected bibliography a t end of paper for were beginning to close in on the citation of thi s and other papers mentioned. 4 Descriptions of two new species of Amphizoa from Pacific Northwest. Vancouver's I sland: A. josephi, A. Lecontei, Cistula Entom. I. 1872, pp. 119-122. See likewise A. Mat· Turning to the economic bases of the thews' obituary notice of the Rev. H . Matthews (d. 1874) in Ent. Mo. Mag. XIV, 1877, pp. 38-39. beetle studies of this period, one notes 78 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG. 15, 1952 with interest that the two first resi­ beetle-study, especially during the dent workers, Taylor and Keen, were late twenties, is the Provincial Museum clergymen. This is evidence of the at Victoria, where G. A. Hardy has British influence, for during the 19th published a number of reports on the century several of the most important Elateridae, Buprestidae, and Ceramby­ British coleopterists were clergymen. cidae of Vancouver Island. Mr. Hardy, One searches in vain for a clergyman however, serves the Museum as advancing the study of beetles at this Botanist as well as Entomologist. time in the United States. A. W. While the Museum's beetle coll ection Hanham, who was contributing heavi­ is extensive, as late as 1949, a t any ly to "The Entomological Record" rate, it is badly in need of consolida­ during this period, was manager of tion in modern insect boxes or the Bank of British North America in drawers. Duncan. R. V. Harvey, who was working on a Provincial list, was a The most important beetle-studies school teacher. E. P. Venables was to have been conducted in British Col­ a farmer in the vicinity of Vernon. umbia in the past thirty years were E. M. Anderson was connected with those under the leadership of Ralph the Provincial Museum in Victoria. Hopping, 1868-1941, from 1919 entom­ J B. W allis, public school teacher of ologist in charge of the Dominion \Vinnipeg, collected extensively at Forest Insect Laboratory at Vernon_ Peachland in 1909. A. H. Bush was an Beg inning in 1925, Mr. Hopping was engmeer on the Canadian Pacific assisted at the Vernon laboratory by Railroad. W. H. Brittain, who pub­ lished a list of 73 species of Coleoptera his son, George R. Hopping, and be­ from the Okanagan district in 1904 ginning in 1930, by Hugh B. Leech, was employed in economic entomology. both of whom became interested in In these tentative "Observations on the taxonomy of the Coleoptera and the Study of Beetles in British Col­ both of whom remained connected umbia," I should like to suggest that with the Vernon laboratory for eight a new period in the study of the or nine years foll owing Ralph Hop­ beetles of the Province dates from ping's retirement in 1939. The Hop­ about 1920. The U niversity of Brit­ pings concentrated on the Ceramby­ ish Columbia was established in 1915. cidae, in which family they produced Entomology was first taught there in an important series of monographs,6 1919, and Professor G. J Spencer but Ralph Hopping's studies in par­ joined the staff of the institution as ticular extended over the beetles as entomologist in 1924. Professor Spenc­ a whole. On September 1, 1938, his er is not a coleopterist, and his beetle­ unpublished card index of British Col­ studies have been confined to some of umbia beetles numbered 2070 species, the household species. He has, how­ a fi gure to be compared with the 1906 ever, laid the foundations for a Pro­ figure cited above of 800 species, and vincial collection, and the institution indicating the growth of knowledge which he serves seems to furnish the in the intervening period. The collec­ condition under which we can expect tion at Vernon came to number about that fully endemic beetle-studies can 10,000 species in about 97,000 speci­ be carried on. mens, including large amounts of More important than the University British Columbia material. In accord­ of British Columbia as a centre of ance with Ralph Hopping's own de­ sire, his collection was sold for a 5 Bull. Ent. Soc. B.c., No. 1, March 1906, p. 2. nominal sum by his widow to the From 1901·1

Hugh Leech specialized at first in Princeton, and he has one of the finest both the Staphylinidae and the aquatic collections of the beetles of the Coleoptera, later exclusively in the Province ever assembled. Stace Smith aquatic families. He has published a represents the earlier collector-type of very extensive series of excell ent investiga tor, and he represents this short papers. In 1947, in order to type at its very best. An expert and secure the opportunity to concentrate indefatigable collector, he insists on the on his taxonomic studies, he accepted most precise preparation and labeling the position of Associate Cura'Jor of of every specimen. Each specimen, Insects at the California Academy of moreover, carries the names of the Sciences, taking with him his collec­ various coleopterists who have seen tion of about 130 boxes of water it and the names-not always con­ beetles. With George Hopping's re­ gruent-that they have assigned to it. moval to Calgary the following year, Stace Smith confines himself to the the Vernon Group of coleopterists was beetles of the Province, which he has dissolved. represented in his collection in series A collector of beetles of some note in up to 20 or 25 specimens of a species. the vicinity of Terrace and Massett, At the end of 1950 he figured that he in part some of the country formerly had representatives of a few over 2000 worked by the Rev. J. H. Keen, is species of British Columbia beetles in Mrs. M. E. Clark of Terrace. As Mrs. his collection. He is, moreover, be­ W. W. Hippisley, she published some ing of the utmost possible assistance Notes 011 North-ern British Columbia to me in my work on The Beetles of Co/eo pteM in the Canadian Entomolo­ the Pacific Northwest. gist (XLIV, pp. 63-66) in 1922. In Finally, I have to mention Richard 1948 and 1949 she published a list of Guppy, of Wellington, near Nanaimo. 420 species of Cicindelidae through Mr. Guppy confines his collection to Coccinellidae in the Proceedings of Vancouver Island, and is proving very our Societv-the most extensive helpful in supplying material from that single list of species so far to have locality. been published in British Columbia. I now give some comparative figures Her specimens were named for her by on five collections of British Columbia C. A. Frost of Framingtham, Mass., beetles. In part I of my book, I who retained samples of most of her recognize about 675 species of North­ species, and she has recently deposit­ western beetles in the suborder Ade­ ed the residue of her collection at the phag-a, which includes Carabidae, University of British Columbia. Dytiscidae, and related families. Of The leading presently active student these 675 species, 511 are listed from of British Columbia beetles is Gordon British Columbia. Of these 511 species, Stace Smith, a mining foreman, now I have found examples of 373 species retired, of Creston. In 1929 and 1930, in the collection of the California Stace Smith published a list of 323 Academy of Sciences, 359 species in species from Copper Mountain near the collection of G. Stace Smith, 294 species in my collection at the Uni­ 6 Hopping, Ralph. A review of the genus Monocham­ versity of Washington, 256 species in us Servo (Cerambycidae, Coleoptera). Can. Ent. 53, 1922, pp. 252.258; pI. xi. the collection of the University of -(with J. M. Swaine) The Lepturini of America nC)rth of Mexico. P.art I. Nat. Mus. Can. Bull. British Columbia, and 157 species in 52, 1927, 97 pp., xii pI. the collections of the Provincial -Part II. Ib;d., Bull. 85, 1938, 42 pp. vi. pI. -(and Geo. R. Rapping) Part Ill. Cortodera. Sci. Museum at Victoria.* Agric. 27, 1947, pp. 220·236. Hop'ping, Geo. R. A revision oi the Clytini of boreal America (Cerambycida.e, Caleoptera) Part I. Ann. 'Ed. Note.-Over 250 named species of this group Ent. Soc. Amer. XXV, 1932, pp. 529·567, pI. i·v. are in the collection of the Vernon Forest Insect -Part n. Ibid. XXX, 1937, pp. 438·357, pI. i·iii. Labora tory. 80 ENroMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRnISII COLUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG. 15, 1952

Selected Bibliography LeConte, John L. 1869. List of Coleoptera Hardy, G. A. 1926. Cerambycidae of Van­ collected in Vancouver's Island by Henry couver Island. Rept. Provo Mus. Nat. and Joseph Matthews, with descriptions Hist. for 1925, pp. C24-C33, 47 figs. (68 of some new species. Ann. Mag. Nat. species). Hist. 4(4): 369-386. (186 species.) -1927. Report on a collecting trip to Taylor, George W. 1888. Notes on seventy­ Garibaldi Park, B.C. Rept. Provo Mus. Nat. Hist. for 1926, pp. Cl5-C26. (55 six species of Cicindelidae and Carabidae species of Coleoptera). collected near Victoria, Vancouver Is. -1927. Buprestidae of Vancouver Island. Can. Ent. 18: 34-37. ibidem, pp. C32-C34, 9 figs. (20 species). Brodie, Bruce. 1888. List of Coleoptera col­ -1927. Cerambycidae of Vancouver Island. lected by Mr. Bruce Bailey in Kicking ibidem, pp. C34-37. (29 species, including Horse Pass, Rocky Mountains, c.P.R. in 15 not in 1926 list). 1884. Proc. Can. Inst. Toronto, 5(3): Hardy, G. A. and VV. H. A. Preece. 1926. 213-215. (80 species.) Notes on some species of Cerambycidae Wickham, H. F. 1893. Report of an entomo­ (Col.) from the southern portion of Van­ logical reconnaissance of southern Alaska couver Island, B.C. Pan-Pac. Ent. 3 :34-40. and adjacent portions of British Columbia. (14 species). Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. St. Univ. Iowa, -1927. Further notes on some species of 2 :202-233. (68 species from Stikine River; Cerambycidae (Col.) from the southern 43 species from Glenora.) portion of Vancouver Island, B.C., with descriptions of some new varieties. Pan­ Keen, J. H. 1895. List of Coleoptera col­ Pac. Ent. 3 :187-193. (10 species). lected at ?lIassett, Queen Charlotte Islands, -1927. Additional notes on some Ceram­ B.C. Can. Ent. 27 :165-172, 217-220. (241 bycidae (Col.) from Vancouver Island, species.) B.C. Pan ·Pac. Ent. 4:61-67. (14 species). -1898. a preliminary catalogue of the collections of natural history and ethnology Hardy, G. A. 1928. Vancouver Island in the Provincial Museum, Victoria, British Elateridae. Rept. Provo Mus. Nat. Hist. Columbia. pp. 71-75. (131 species of for 1927, pp. CI6-EI7. (24 species). Coleoptera from Massett; 29 species from Brown, W. J 1929. Gyrinidae of Canada. Victoria.) 59th Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Onto for 1928, -1905. Beetles from northern British Col­ pp. 115-116. (10 species from B.C.); umbia. Can. Ent. 37 :297-298. (48 species.) Scarabaeidae of Canada, pp. 116-120. (39 species from B.C.). Harvey, R. V. 1906 and 1907. The British Columbia List. Bull. 13.C. Ent. Soc. No. Stace Smith, G. 1929 and 1930. Coleoptera. 1, pp. 3-4. (32 species of Coccinellidae); Mus. and Art Notes, Art Hist. ,md Sci. No.2, pp. 3-4. (18 species of Buprestidae) ; Assoc., Vancouver, B.C. IV, pp. 69-74; V, No.4, p. 4. (8 species of Cicindelidae); pp. 22-25. (323 species from Copper No.6, pp. 3-5. (96 species of Ceramby­ ~lol1ntain near Princeton). cidae.) Dobzhansky, Th. 1935. A list of the Coc­ cinellidae of British Columbia. N.Y. Ent. Venables, E. P. 1913. Notes on some Soc. 43 :331-336. (29 species). Coleoptera of the Okanagan Valley. Can. Ent. 45 :267-268. (41 species of Cicindelidae Spencer, G. J. 1942. Insects and other and Carabidae.) arthropods in buildings in British Columbia. Proc. Ent. Soc. B.C. 39 :23-29. (32 species Brittain, W. H. 1914. Report from the of Coleoptera). Okanagan District: Insect pests of the Leech, Hugh B. 1947. List of some Phil­ year. Proc. Ent. Soc. B.C. 4:14·19. (73 onthus from British Columbia (Coleoptera: species of Coleoptera from Okanagan Staphylinidae). l' roc. Ent. Soc. B.C. District.) 43 :23-24. (23 species). Anderson, E. M. 1914. Insects collected iri Spencer, G.]. 1948. Notes on some Der­ the Okanagan Valley 1913. Proc. Ent. mestidae of British Columbia. ProC'. Ent. Soc. B.C. 4:54-58. (26 species of Coleop­ Soc. B.C. 44:6-9. (11 species). tera). Clark, M. E., 1948 and 1949.' An Annotated Bush, A. H. 1914. A trip up Mount Cheam. list of Coleoptera taken at or near Ter­ Proc. Ent. Soc. B.C. 4:58-60. (106 species). race, British Columbia. Part I, Proc. Ent. Hopping, Ralph. 1922. Coniferous hosts of Soc. B.C. 44 :24-27 (172 species! Ciein­ the Ipidae of the Pacific' Coast and deliclae through Scydmaenidae); Part 2, Rockv "Ylountain Regions. Can. Ent. 45 :21-24. (248 species: Orthoperidae 54 :128-134. (65 species from B.C.). through Coccinellidae).