An annotated list of corrections is provided for the third and last volume of the monograph “The Odonata of Canada and Alaska”. Published reviews of Volume III are listed.

There are now two strains of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), in Quebec. The strain normally found produces one generation while the more recently introduced strain produces two generations per year. Both strains have been characterized and compared with corn borer strains from Ontario and New York State. The two attributes of the recently introduced strain that promote the development of a second generation are (1) early emergence in the spring with less intense diapause and (2) a lower critical photoperiod for diapause induction. The latter characteristic allows pupation of first generation larvae. Field and laboratory tests on the pheromone response of adult male moths demonstrated that the origin of this recent introduction was New York State.

The insecticide phosphamidon, both alone and mixed with other chemicals, was tested in the laboratory as a motor stimulant to female spruce budworm moths. For phosphamidon alone, the time to reaction of virgin female budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) moths was about 40 min. However, small supplements of pyrethrum or synthetic pyrethroids reduced the reaction time to about 3–8 min. The slow reaction to phosphamidon alone could account for the failure of that insecticide to kill gravid females. It is postulated that moths quickly stimulated to flight activity within the canopy would be more likely to acquire a lethal dose of insecticide before the spray cloud dissipated.

From a number of Trichoptera predominantly from Thailand, collected by W.L. and J.G. Peters, Florida A & M University, and Fred W. Knapp, University of Kentucky, the following new species are selected for description: Dipseudopsis ulmeri, akhila, petersorum, thailandica, and knappi of the family Dipseudopsidae and Pahamunaya jihmita, Pseudoneureclipsis saccheda, and Polycentropus vanachakuni of the family Polycentropodidae. Unless designated otherwise types will be deposited in the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California. Some paratypes are in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa.

Annual ice blocks erosion characterizes James Bay coastline. Within the sampled area, the estuarine Rupert Bay shores are flooded by fresh or brackish tides, and James Bay shores by saline water. Nineteen mosquito species were found in typical larval associations, related to the vegetation of their temporary shallow water breeding sites. In the tidal zone, Ae. implicatus is characteristic of fresh or brackish water marshes, while Ae. cantator and then Ae. dorsalis are dominant in the salt pitted marshes. In the supra-littoral zone Ae. punctor is characteristic of Salix Candida and S. pellita unit; at the foot of the supra-littoral slope, Ae. communis and Ae. pionips characterize the S. planifolia unit. An ecological map of a section of Rupert Bay illustrates where are located the typical littoral mosquito species. The ecological status of each mosquito species found in this area is also discussed, taking into account previous data from all the subarctic continental zones.

Spatial and temporal patterns of Dendroctonus frontalis emerging from loblolly pine, Pinus taeda, were studied. Daily emergence was measured at 1.5-m intervals along the infested bole on nine trees Emerging beetles from three of the trees were collected and their sex identified. Topological estimates of daily emergence on all trees were computed and the spatial and temporal patterns of emergence were described using three and five parameter models. Emergence followed the same general pattern at each of the 1.5-m sampling intervals. Peak density of emergence occurred at ca. 0.25 of the process time span (day 7) and declined thereafter. Emergence density was highest at the 3.5-m interval and tapered gradually towards the top of the tree and abruptly towards the bottom. The process took ca. 28 days for completion. Emergence partitioned by sex followed the same general pattern as observed for the combined sexes. The cumulative sex ratio of emerging beetles was essentially 1:1 at each height interval.

Since the curves at the various height intervals were similar, emergence was described as an average process for the entire tree. The essential features of the process were retained in the average analysis. A probability distribution function defined for emergence permits calculation of the distribution of beetles from host trees provided the cumulative density is known. A frequency histogram illustrating the range in observed emergence density over a three year period was also included.

Adult populations of D. frontalis available for colonization were interpreted as a single process “allocation.” The allocation process was defined by two components, re-emergence and emergence, and had the following characteristics: (1) it is continous for each tree in the infestation, (2) it is distinct for each tree, (3) it is bimodal in intensity, and (4) the components may operate together or independently. The allocation concept was used to interpret the manner in which D. frontalis infestations have been observed to develop.

Worker-male conflict in different bumble bee species is strongly associated with tendency, toward inbreeding. It is hypothesized that the major cost imposed by inbreeding arises from the production of diploid males in place of workers, during the early phases of colony development. The consequent dilution of the labour force slows down colony growth and leads to ultimate reduction in reproductive success. An experiment to test this hypothesis is described, using consanguineously mated queens of B. atratus Fkln. Colonies yielding a 1:1 mixture of males and workers grew significantly more slowly than normal all-worker producing colonies, providing support for the hypothesis.

The biological and ecological relationships of the hickory timber beetle, Xyleborus celsus Eichoff (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), and black hickory, Carya texana (Buckley), were studied for 2 years in south-central Missouri. X. celsus was bivoltine and overwintered as an adult. Development from egg to adult required ca. 35 days. There were three larval instars. Brood adults either extended the galleries in which they completed immature development or emerged to seek new hosts. Most attacks occurred within 1.5 m above ground level The most heavily attacked height interval in the basal 1 m of 10–17 cm D.B.H. trees varied. This variability is correlated to the temporal relation of girdling of the tree and beetle attack. Aspect of beetle attack varied at random. Conditions for X. celsus development were not uniform in the basal 1 m of infested trees.

Results of previous research revealed that the effect of Bacillus thuringiensis on spruce budworm was a septicemia enterotoxicosis dependent on the ability of spores to penetrate to the insect hemolymph. Some scientists still maintain that the role of B. thuringiensis crystals (endotoxin) is primordial and is by itself responsible, by toxemia, for mortality in Choristoneura fumiferana. Consequently, new studies were undertaken to confirm the role of spores in B. thuringiensis infection of this insect. Infection tests were carried out with normal, irradiated, acrystalliferous and non-sporogenous strains of B. thuringiensis, with purified and semi-purified crystals, with pure spore preparations of B. thuringiensis and with enomopathogenic Bacillus cereus. The results of these tests revealed that acrystalliferous strains of B. thuringiensis and B. cereus infected larvae of C. fumiferana more successfully than purified or semi-purified crystals.

Survey counts of spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), female pupae, and eggs recorded annually at about 1000 sample points in New Brunswick from 1960 to 1975 provided ratios of eggs to females (E/F ratios) which are a measure of apparent reproduction. The 10-fold variation in the ratios was inversely associated with the frequency of July storm tracks. A positive relationship between E/F ratios and changes in the area of the budworm infestation in the province was also shown.

Spear-marked black moth, Rheumaptera hastata (L.), females tended to oviposit more readily on paper birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh., than other deciduous plants indigenous to interior Alaska. Larval feeding intensity was about 40% higher on birch foliage than on other host plants. Larvae reared on various host plant species differed in survival, development rate, and body weight. Food quality of host plants on which females were reared as larvae affected oviposition, fecundity, and egg viability. Larval development rate and survival decreased when fed foliage from birch trees that were repeatedly defoliated for 2 and 3 years.

Head capsule widths of laboratory-reared and mature field-collected larvae of P. isabella were measured. The number of larval instars varied from 7 to 10, yet in all larvae studied, average size and increment in the successive instars were the same for instars 1 to 3. In the latter instars, there was an inverse relationship between size of increment and prospective number of instars. Insects which completed 10 instars were only a little larger than those maturing after only 7 instars. These data fail to support Dyar’s rule.

A description of the previously unknown larva of Ischnura erratica Calvert is presented. In addition, information on larval habitat, and on the emergence and breeding behaviour of the adults is documented.

Phoretic hypopi of the mite genera Anoetus (Anoetidae), Sancassania, Kuzinia and Schwiebea (Acaridae) were commonly found on 11 species of carabids. Deutonymphs of Poecilochirus sp. were also phoretic on the carabids. Other mite genera were present infrequently on the carabids. Mites were found mainly on ventral surfaces of large carabids and rarely under elytra.

Adult Euxoa tristicula (Morrison) males were specifically attracted to traps baited with Z-9-dodecenyl acetate (Z9-12:Ac) + n-dodecyl acetate (12:Ac). Best attractancy was obtained with 1:3 ratios of these components. Z-5- and Z-7-dodecenyl acetates and Z-9-tetradecenyl acetate inhibited lure attractancy. In electroantennogram measurements strong antennal responses were obtained only with 12:Ac, Z9-12:AC, and E9-12:Ac.

Descriptions of both sexes are presented for Hybomitra typhus (Whitney) and H. pechumani n. sp., and of the larvae and pupae of the former species.

The isozyme phenotypes of five enzymes have been found to provide additional characters that distinguish two forms of Hybomitra typhus until recently considered as conspecific. Hexokinase and malate dehydrogenase phenotypes were completely diagnostic for the new species H. pechumani and for H. typhus. Alcohol dehydrogenase, triosephosphate isomerase, and phosphoglucomutase differentiated the two species in terms of their phenotype frequencies but were not completely diagnostic. The genotypic frequencies of triosephosphate isomerase were found to be diagnostic with a probability of 99.8%.

The growth parameters for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were examined via optimization studies to determine if the observed values were optimal for the season lengths and weather patterns found in California and Nicaragua. The parameters observed for Nicaraguan cotton were further examined to determine if predation by boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boh.) of small cotton fruit (squares) could explain the observed discrepancies. All of the observed growth parameters except the fruit bud production rate for the Acala SJ II variety of cotton which is grown in California appeared to be reasonably optimal for California condition (i.e. boll weevil does not occur in California). By contrast, the parameters for the Nicaraguan variety were sub-optimal if boll weevil was excluded from the analysis, but near optimal if the population dynamics of pest were included.

An apoidean community in southern Ontario was intensively sampled over two seasons. One hundred and forty-one species in six families were collected. The species–abundance relationship exhibited a log-normal distribution. Flight activity began before late April and continued past late September. Most species were active for only a brief portion of that period. The most abundant species were known to be primitively social. Thirty-six of the species were parasitic bees. A number of other specialized parasitoids of the orders Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera were recorded.

Forty-one species of spiders were found in a Quebec apple orchard. The most abundant species were Theridion murarium, Araniella displicata, and Philodromus rufus. Spiders in general were rather low in population density throughout the study, and they declined by two-thirds in the final year, owing probably to several factors including the use of broad spectrum insecticides for the control of particular orchard pests.