The following contribution to our knowledge of the Ichneumoninae of the boreal parts of Canada and of Alaska is based mainly on material obtained by the Northern Insect Survey, which is a co-operative project of the Canada Department of Agriculture and the Defence Research Board, Canada Department of National Defence.

The contribution brings forward 12 new species and subspecies 3 of them being represented by both sexes, 9 by the female sex only. Some arctic species already named before or regarded as holarctic elements will be treated in a separate publication.

Early in July, 1953, a yellowish mite was observed feeding on active forms of the European red mite, Metatetranychus ulmi (Koch), in an orchard at Rougement, Qué., where a minimum of pesticides (insecticides and acaricides) detrimental to the natural fauna had been used for two years. The mite increased considerably in numbers during 1954 and 1955, contributing noticeably to the control of the European red mite.

This insect was first noticed during the summer of 1939 in a young red pine plantation in the vicinity of Berthierville, Que. A large number of mature larvae were collected at the end of the same season and placed on the foliage of small red pine trees enclosed in wire cages in the field. The larvae soon left the trees to enter the soil for overwintering. The following spring, numerous adults emerged in the cages, and in order to obtain an identification, several specimens were sent to Dr. O. Peck, Entomology Division, Ottawa, who considered that this was apparently a new species of the genus Cephalcia. Later, many specimens were sent to Dr. W. W. Middlekauff, of the University of California, who described the species under the name C. marginata (1953).

Apterous viviparous female

General colour dark brown. Tibia with a short proximal portion, and distal 1/3, dark brown, remainder light yellowish-brown. Antenna light brown, except segments I and VI, distal 1/3 of V, and extreme tips of III and IV, which are dark brown. Dorsum of metathorax and abdomen thickly speckled with raised, subcircular spots, some of which are joined together to form raised areas of irregular shape (Fig. 1, A). Each dark spot bears a stout, spine-like seta. Many setae on the dorsum terminate in enlarged, bifurcate tips,

During 1951 and 1952 a study was conducted on types of larval habitat, larval and adult feeding, cocoon spinning, the emergence process and oviposition of Utah black flies. Most of the work was concentrated at six stations in City Creek Canyon and four stations in Red Butte Canyon. The data obtained at these stations were supplemented with additional observations, made thru 1955, in various localities throughout the state.

Red Butte and City Creek Canyons are located on the western side of the Wasatch Mountains. Red Butte Canyon is directly east of Salt Lake City, and City Creek Canyon is approximately three miles northwest of Red Butte and north of the City.

Since 1950 the University of California has maintained a program designed to evaluate the effectiveness of certain insect parasites in the control of the western grape leaf skeletonizer, Harrisina brillians B. & McD., in San Diego County, California. During this time, all sustained efforts to produce parasites in quantities for field release have failed because of recurrent outbreaks of a disease of the skeletonizer larvae. The causative agent of this disease was identified by Steinhaus and Hughes (1952) as a granulosis virus.

In 1953, 1954, and 1955 a species of leaf miner heavily infested leaves of apple trees in an orchard at Farnham, Que., causing severe damage to the crop. The pest was present on all apple varieties but was particularly abundant on Cortland. This infestation is apparently the first known to cause serious injury in Quebec.

Specimens were determined by Dr. T. N. Freeman, Entomology Division, Ottawa, as of Lithocolletis malimalifoliella Braun. This pest has not been previously reported from the Province of Quebec. It has been reported as a persistent and sometimes serious pest of apple in the Annapolis Valley, N.S. (Cameron and Patterson, 1941; Patterson and Neary, 1943), but does not appear to have been reported elsewhere in Canada. Under Quebec conditions L. malimalifoliella has two complete generations and a partial third per year and overwinters in the pupal stage. A survey revealed the pest to be present in all major apple-growing areas of the province.

The purpose of the following investigation was to determine whether house flies overwinter under Manitoba winter conditions, and if so by what means. The overwintering problem is particularly interesting and important in areas with a severe winter climate such as that of Manitoba. Solving this problem would shed information as to the cold resistance and winter adaptations of this insect. It could also become an important factor in controlling this pest. By disinfecting overwintering sites the nuclei of next year's house fly population would be reduced. This in turn might retard the attainment of the high house fly population level during the following summer.

Since 1919 it has been noticed in a number of peach orchards in the Niagara Peninsula that the larvae of Chrysopa plorabunda Fitch are highly resistant to DDT, whereas those of C. rufilabris Burm. are susceptible. Data obtained in a representative orchard since 1953 are summarized in Table I. Two 60- to 70-tree plots were sprayed with wettable sulphur or captan according to standard commercial schedules. Two adjacent plots were similarly treated with wettable sulphur and also with two applications of 50 per cent wettable DDT powder at 2 pounds per 100 gallons about 10 days apart in early July. Forty trees in each plot were sampled the same days at irregular intervals each season by brushing. This method, described elsewhere (Putman, 1955), is not a very efficient way of collecting chrysopid larvae because they are not easily dislodged from the foliage, but the numbers collected should be proportional to the actual populations. As sampling in this and in three other orchards showed that neither fungicide had any obvious effect on chrysopids, the two fungicide plots were considered as a single non-insecticide plot and the two DDT plots were similarly combined. Each value in the table represents the total number of larvae collected in each pair of plots in three to eight samplings during July and August after the first application of DDT.