pdf - Entomological Society of Canada

summary of some of the pertinent publications dating from 1869 to 1915,
mainly, but not exclusively, for Eastern Canada and the northeastern
United States, and, recently, Vickery et al. (1974) have noted the relevant
literature for Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada from the early
nineteenth century until 1973. As we have already reviewed the literature up
until 1850-which is approximately when Glen (1956) reckoned that scientific
entomology began in Canada-we may largely confine our attention here
to works published after that date.
The first Canadian reference is to the stick-insect now known to have
been Diapheromera femorata (Say) (Gibb 1859). The paper was, in fact,
mainly concerned with the sounds produced by local insects, including grigs.
Three years later, Scudder (1862) listed a number of species from the West
and described a new North American grasshopper, now Stethophyma gracile
(Scudder), from Manitoba and Maine. In January of the following year, the
same author (Scudder 1863a) published his first treatise on the orthopteroid
insects of North America. In the same year, also, Scudder (1863b) described
Pezotettix [now Booneacris] glacialis from New Hampshire. Ritchie (1867)
again referred to the stick-insect Diapheromerafemorata (Say) (as Spectrum
femoratum) in Eastern Canada from Montreal in 1865. Scudder's (1868b)
paper on the stridulation of New England grigs was the first of several in
this field. S. 1. Smith's (1868) list of 38 nominal species of orthopteroids
for Maine was an important landmark.
The catalogs of F. Walker (1869a, 1869b, 1870, 1871) included various
references to early records of Canadian orthopteroids, as noted previously,
but also other information, including descriptions of several new species,
some of which still remain valid. A few records for the northwestern United
States and Canada are noted by C. Thomas (1873) in his general work on
the"Acrididae of North America."
Although it is impossible here to attempt to itemize every subsequent
work that had a direct bearing upon the study of the orthopteroid insects
of the northern United States and Canada, we may at least draw attention
to the more significant of these, beginning, perhaps, with the survey for
New Hampshire, given by Scudder (1874). Together with S. 1. Smith's (1868)
account for Maine, this provided the impetus for launching various other
regional studies in the northern United States during the next 30 years or
so. These included the works of Fernald (1888) and the earlier writings of
Morse (1894-1906) for New England, of Beutenmiiller (1894c) for
New York, and, farther west, of Lugger (1898) for Minnesota. McNeill
(1896/1897, 1901) wrote two revisional studies of different groups of
Acrididae which were of great importance. Scudder (1900b) made a further
important contribution to the knowledge of New England species. In the early
years of the twentieth century, we may also note the contributions of Walden
(1911) for Connecticut, of F. L. Washburn (1912b) and Somes (1914) for
Minnesota, of Pettit and McDaniel (1918) for Michigan, of Morse (1919a,
1919b, 1920, 1921) for New England and Maine, and of Britton (1920) for
Connecticut. The book by Blatchley (1920) on the orthopteroids of eastern
North America, naturally included the species occurring in much of
the present region, and, although now out of date, remains the most
comprehensive work for the eastern United States.
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