This paper offers a taxonomic arrangement of the forms of Coccinella L. that occur in the United States. Canada, and Greenland. Eighteen forms, which are arranged as 12 species, are considered to merit names. The forms of the United States and Canada were reviewed last by Dobzhansky in 1931. The arrangement proposed below differs from his as detailed in the summary that follows the taxonomic treatment. The principal difference is in the subspecies concept that is applied.

Studies on the parasites of the Swaine jack pine sawfly, Neodiprion swainei Midd., form part of an extensive program designed to assess the factors influencing population dynamics of this important defoliator of jack pine, Pinus banksiana Lamb. Investigations were carried out in the Province of Quebec between 1955 and 1959 near the headwaters of the Gatineau River, Abitibi County, and continued during 1960 and 1961 near the source of the Vermillion River, County Laviolette. In both areas, one of the principal parasites associated with N. swainei was the tachinid, Spathimeigenia spinigera Townsend. Descriptions of the immature stages of this parasite, and details of its behaviour were published previously (Tripp, 1960).

The apple sucker, Psylla mali Schmidb., was first noticed in large numbers in Nova Scotia in 1919 and within a few years populations were dense in apple orchards throughout the Annapolis Valley (Dustan, 1924a). Dustan (1924b) and Gilliatt (1924) reported that a disease caused by Entomophthora sphaerosperma (Fresenius) was prevalent among adult apple suckers during this infestation. A decline in numbers followed this early infestation due, it was thought, to the fungus. However, about the time that this early infestation declined sulphur was introduced as a fungicide. General use of sulphur continued until about 1950 and the insect was not a serious pest during this period. This association of low density of the apple sucker with the use of sulphur and the general increase in numbers of the apple sucker after the organic fungicides, ferbam, captan, glyodin, etc. became common in Nova Scotia, led to the belief that sulphur rather than E. sphaerosperma had been largely responsible for the decline of the early infestation in the 1920's.

The eggs of a queen bumblebee are undeveloped when the queen emerges in the spring from winter hibernation. After emergence, the eggs develop while the queen is feeding on available sources of nectar and pollen. It is generally assumed that physiological changes associated with egg development stimulate a queen to search for a nesting place and start a colony. However, there is little information available on the relationship between egg development and the colony-founding behavior of the bumblebee.

The black-headed budworm has long been known as an endemic resident and occasional epidemic defoliator of coniferous forests in Canada and parts of northern United States. The moth is distributed across the whole of the northern forest area from Cape Breton Island to the west coast of Canada and Alaska. It is a serious and recurrent defoliator particularly in British Columbia and Washington (Silver, 1960). The larvae feed on various conifers of the genera Abies, Larix, Picea, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga, and different hosts are preferred in different parts of the range. Thus, Schaffner (1950) gives Abies balsamea as the most important host in eastern areas, Raizenne (1952) indicates that species of spruce (Picea) are most often utilized in southern Ontario, while Tsuga heterophylla has been found to be preferred in coastal British Columbia (Leech, 1933; Keen, 1952; Evans and Silver, 1954; Silver, 1960).

During an investigation of California Tortricinae, I had the opportunity to study Archipsini in the Canadian National Collection from western North America, and the following two species became evident. It seems appropriate to describe them at the present time because of their potential concern to Canadian forest entomologists and in order to make the names availalble for N. S. Obraztsov's projected generic revision and catalogue of Nearctic Tortricinae.

Of the fruits grown in the Kootenay Valley of British Columbia, pears are third in importance; in the more arid Okanagan Valley 300 miles to the wrest they are second. During 1959 the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster, caused severe losses for fruit growers in the Okanagan Valley. The damage was much greater than had occurred during the previous 17 years. It became clear that the insect was a major economic pest, and that it was not being adequately controlled by the recommended insecticides. Obviously, more information was needed on the biological aspects of the situation. The roie of climatic conditions was particularly in question. In 1960 a start was made on a biological study of the pear psylla at Creston in the Kootenay Valley. This paper deals with observations thnf were made there.

In 1958, intensive studies on the population dynamics of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.), on cabbage were initiated in long-term study plots at Merivale, Ontario. The object was to construct ecological life tables for successive generations of the species, and ultimately, to develop mathematical models describing survival of field populations. This paper reports on the variation between samples of immature stages of the insect, and between some of the mortality factors affecting its abundance; it further illustrates the use of these data in designing a sampling plan with acceptable limits of precision.

In Saskatchewan the migratory grasshopper, Melanoplus bilituratus (Wlk.), is most numerous in areas of cultivation; within these areas weedy grain fields seem to be its most favored habitat. On native grasslands where this grasshopper is less prevalent, it favors overgrazed pastures in which palatable forbs and weed species are common.

The relationship of M. bilituratus to its food plants has been reported by a number of workers in various parts of Canada and the United States (Pfadt, 1949; Anderson and Wright, 1952; Smith et al., 1952; Barnes, 1955; Gangwere, 1956; Pickford, 1958; Scharff, 1961). Certain differences in food preferences and in reproductive potential of this grasshopper may be noted in these reports. Some of the differences may have occurred because bilituratus (mexicanus auth. in part) is made up of a number of sub-species and local populations (Brooks, 1958; Gurney and Brooks, 1959).

The brown mite, Bryobia arborea M. and A., is a widely distributed phytophagous pest of apple trees in Nova Scotia. Many predators have been observed feeding on this pest, particularly the predacious mites of the sub-family Phytoseiinae. It is difficult to assess the influence of these predators on brown mite in the field because fungicides, which are necessary in the commercial production of apples in Nova Scotia, often disrupt the relationships. Furthermore, other species of predators and prey usually found in apple orchards obscure the influence of phytoseiids on brown mite.

Lyman Entomological Museum—In December, 1914, the H. H. Lyman Bequest established a collection of insects and an entomological library in the Redpath Museum on the McGill Campus of McGill University, Montreal. For various reasons the Lyman collections remained isolated spatially from the Entomology Department of the University. On December 28, 1961, however, the collection and library were moved to more spacious quarters, to be known as the Lyman Entomological Museum, in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology on the Macdonald College Campus near Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec. The Macdonald College collections have now been amalgarnated with those from Montreal and the first full-time curator has been appointed. It is hoped that a new era of expansion and usefulness has begun.

The influence of surface active agents (surfactants) such as “wetters”, “spreaders” and “stickers” on the deposition of pesticides on foliage is not always readily predictable. The results are influenced by the physical state of the pesticide (solution, emulsion, suspension), its chemical properties, the concentration of borh pesticide and surfactant, the nature of the plant surface, and the mode of application. Kearns (1) has particularly emphasized that the plant surface must be considered when a formulation of a pesticide is produced, and that there can he no general prescription satisfactory for a wide range of crops. For instance, a fungicide formulation that was excellent for banana, the leaves of which are difficult to wet, produced poor results on coffee, a crop relatively easy to treat. Our results now show that opposing results may also be obtained with the same pesticide, same surfactant and same crop, when two different methods of application are used.

Field tests of several formulations of DDT and heptachlor as black-fly larvicides were made in 1953 and 1954 in irrigation canals in Alberta. The objectives of these tests were 1: to investigate further the relationship between larvicide effectiveness and the suspended solids content of the water, and 2: to investigate the use of formulations containing either emulsifiers or finely-divided inorganic particles which might improve larvicide effectiveness in clear-water streams.

A study of factors that influence host references of the parasitic tachinids Drino bohemica Mesn. and Bessa harveyi (Tns.) (Monteith, 1955, 1958a, 1958b, 1962) included tests with successive generations of the parasites. Large numbers of the sawfly larvae used as hosts were collected each summer and, when they had spun their cocoons, were put into cold storage until required. In some seasons sufficient larvae of a particular species were not available to conduct experiments for a twelve-month period though a supply of larvae of the same species collected in the previous year was in storage. If larvae stored for one year or longer did not change in their attractiveness to the parasites they could be used in tests together with larvae stored for less than one year. This is a report of an investigation to determine if changes occur during cold storage in the attractiveness of sawfly larvae to B. harveyi.

The upwind guidance of flying insects was considered in a previous paper (Wright, 1958) where a homing mechanism was suggested that did not require visual contact with the ground. The response of Drosophila to attractive scents presented in various ways has now been studied. The results show that visual contact with the ground is in fact essential, and other factors of the guidance system have been clarified.

A weak diapause occurs in eggs of thc pale western cutworm, Axrotis orthogonia Morrison. It does not occur nor is it manifested equally in all eggs. As the eggs are laid in thc fall and hatch the following spring, the diapause 1s sufficient to ensure that they will not hatcll readily upon development to maturity in the fall and that hatchinig is delayed until food is available for the newly hatched larvae (Jacobson, 1962). The rate of hatch of eggs in which diapause has been eliminated varies directly with temperature and hatching may occur at temperatures slightly above freezing (Jacobson and Blakeley, 1958).

The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), has not been propagated previously in the laboratory beyond the first generation. It has not been difficult to obtain eggs from gravid wild flies, nor to rear rhem through to thc adult stage. However, a chemically defined diet that will promote ovary developrrient in reared adults has not been developed, although previous attempts at this laboratory (McLintock and Depner, 1957) showed that preserved blood is satisfactory as a diet to keep flies alive. Furthermore, the lack of sperm in the spermathecae of the females indicated that flies confined in various types of containers away from the host did not mate. Partial development of the ovarics of flies fed on a cow indicated that the method most likely to succeed was one in which flies were allowed to remain on the host.