The Mercure Trial: a Sideline of Entomology

Extract

This exhibit shows pictorially the part that entomological evidence played in a murder trial. Some unusual “hairs” were found stuck in a drop of blood on a 25¢ shinplaster (Canadian bank note) in the possession of a suspect. More of the unusual plumose hairs were taken from the pocket of the murdered man (Patrick Martin). The hairs were brought by the R.C.M.P. to the Entomology Research Institute where they were identified as either dermestid or bee hairs. Subsequent investigation turned up fragments of a bumble bee (Bombus sp.) in the desk where the murdered man kept his collection of shinplasters. These hairs proved to be identical to those in the murdered man's pocket and to the ones on the shinplaster in the possession of the suspect.