Table Of Content

* B Agricultureand Agricultureet Agri-Food Canada AgroalimentaireCanada mD CNC History of 1*1 Agricultureand Agricultureet CanadianAgricultureLibrary ACgarnia-dFaood ACgarnoaadliamentaire OBtibtlaiwoathKèq1uAe0cCa5nadiennedel'agriculture JUN 1 2 2009 AAFC's insectcollection originated in the 1880swith the ofabout 16 million Egiftofthe personal collection ofJames Fletcher(Fig. 1), specimens organized in an accountant in the Libraryof about 1400 insect Parliament. Fletcherwasalsoa cabinets (Fig.4) plus naturalistand becauseofhis interest 10softhousandsof in insects hewas named honorary microscopeslide boxes entomologisttothe Department and vial racks. Fig.4 in1883. Following formation ofthe Fewentomologistswere associated with the CNC during Experimental Farms System in 1886 hewasappointed asthefirst itsfirst50years andtherewere lessthan 1 million specimens until about 1948. However, staff increased as Dominion Entomologist. pjg -| partofthe postWorldWarII economic boom andthe Inthe beginning,AAFC'scollection consisted mainlyof collection increased greatly (Fig. 5). insectsaffecting agriculture andforestry.The Biological — — Division ofthe Geological Surveywas atthe sametime Numbersofspecimens NumbersofEntomologist developing aparallel insectcollection astheyexplored (inmillions) and mappedthecountry. 16 Burning ofthe Parliamentbuildings in 1916 resulted in members being movedtotheVictoria museum, site ofthe Geological Surveycollection. Becauseofensuing congestion the collectionswere amalgamated in 1917 andthe Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnidsand Nematodes (CNC) was born inMFC. Initially housed in the Burks and Confederation buildings, in 1949the CNC movedtothe K.W. Neatbybuilding (Fig. 2) onthe Central Experimental Farm.Theold partof Neatby Since its beginning about 100taxonomists have been was builtbythe Department associated withthe CNC, reaching a peakofabout Fig. 2 ofDefense inthe 1920sto 40 inthe late 1960sand decliningtoabout 15 in the storethe recordsofpersonnel 1990s (Fig. 5).Today, 1 Canadian Food Inspection whoserved overseas inWorld Agency, 2 Canadian ForestServiceand 17MFC War Theconstruction I. scientists, aswell asotherbiologistsandtechnicians needed tosustain the massive maintain and developthe CNCasan irreplaceable part weightofthe records (Fig. 3) ofCanada's natural heritage. was ideal to holdthe collection,which nowconsists Fig. 3 "AgricultureandAgri-FoodCanadaI ©HerMajestytheQueeninRightofCanada,2007 AgricultureetAgroalimentaireCanada Cat.No.A52-80/3-2007 CanadianAgricultureLibrary ISBN978-0-662-05171-8 MFCNo.10381 BibliothèqueCanao»ennedel'agriculture @ ® Ottawa,Ontario K1A0C5 _, Canada Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada http://archive.org/details/historyofcnc10381cana