The International Congresses of Entomology appear to have arisen in the first instance as a development of the International Congresses of Zoology of which the first was created in 1889 by the Zoological Society of France. The first Entomological Congress however, came to be through the personal initiative of Dr. Karl Jordan. Dr. Jordan felt that although entomology has a place in Zoological Congresses this was not commensurate with its importance. He considered that entomology was suffering from the absence of a representative organization where entomologists could meet and discuss their common problems. He noted that many important entomological works, large collections and even the name of distinguished specialists remained quite unknown to non-entomological zoologists. He observed that here and there ill feeling had developed among members of the entomological profession to the great damage of biological science. He found that although entomologists were very numerous and had produced a tremendous mass of work a good deal of this had little scientific value. Finally he complained that in Europe, at least, few of the scientific entomologists were at all interested in the insects of importance to agriculture and to health. Some of the colleagues he consulted doubted that an Entomological Congress could be organized but all agreed that it would undoubtedly be beneficial to entomology.

Entomology in Canada began about the middle of the nineteenth century with a small but able group of hobbyists. They became active shortly before confederation in what was then the Province of Canada, a temporary union of the present provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Today, a century later, the science is firmly founded throughout the coilntry with over 400 professional entomologists, more than 50 well-equipped research centres, 16 institutions giving formal instruction, and eight profesional societies. Entomological advisory services are estahlished in several provinces and federal legislation protects the public against the spread of nosious insects and the fraudulent or dangerous sale of materials for their control.

Two things make it difficult to write an account of Canada in relation to insect life: the vast size and varied nature of the country and the relatively small amount of work that has been done on its insects. Those familiar with the intensely worked biota of Western Europe or even of many parts of the United States will find this description meagre indeed. In general, Canadian environments are known better than the insects that inhabit them. In only a few orders of insects is our knowledge even of species taxonomy reasonably adequate; for all orders our knowledge of geographical distribution in Canada is sketchy or fragmentary and our knowledge of ecological relations almost non-existent. Serious collecting and study of insects has been carried out in only a few centres. The National Collection itself has been developed actively only since 1919, and on a large scale only in the last few years. There is no close network of amateur and professional workers such as exists in better-studied countries. What I have tried to do, therefore, is to give a brief geographic account of the main environmental factors as seen by an entomologist, to give a short outline of the possible history of the fauna, to give examples of the main distributional types, and to provide a tentative classification of entomological regions, with notes on some characteristic insects of each. The main feature that will undoubtedly be impressed on the reader, as it has been impressed on me, is our ignorance and the need for further investigation of the insect fauna.