The lodgepole terminal weevil, Pissodes terminalis Hopping, is the only member of its genus that consistently oviposits in the expanding terminal shoots of its hosts (Stark and Wood 1964). The white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi (Peck), oviposits in the year old shoot of spruce and pine (Wallace and Sullivan 1985) and other Pissodes species have their oviposition sites on boles, root collars, and slash (Furniss and Carolin 1977). In southern British Columbia, P. terminalis is primarily univoltine although adults may live and oviposit for 2 or more years. Although its life cycle is closely synchronized with terminal phenology, its life history is extremely variable (Cameron and Stark 1989). Adults are active in late spring to early summer, when they can be found feeding on the tissues of the developing terminal shoot and foliage. Soon after this maturation feeding, mating occurs, and oviposition punctures are excavated in the bark of the new terminal. Usually a single egg is deposited into each puncture (Drouin et al. 1963; Stark and Wood 1964; Maclauchlan 1992).

We shall return later to the pessimism expressed in the last sentence of that quotation from Maeterlink, a pessimism which seems to have caught the popular fancy, but let us first consider some of the rather startling things that make recently been discovered about the biology of that group of animals that make up three-fourths of the animal kingdom even though they are usually not represented in zoological gardens, are the Cinderellas of most zoological museums, and are a part of the great unknown to most university professors of zoology.

Adults of Choristoneura fumiferana, C. biennis, and an unidentified species reared from larvae or caught in pheromone traps from British Columbia were used for isozyme analysis to confirm the species identity, and for morphological study to determine the percentage of individuals with spiculate aedeagi. About 82% of C. fumiferana and less than 3% of both C. biennis and C. unidentified species (CPG) have spicules on the left side of their aedeagi. The number of moths that need to be sampled to determine a species is presented, based on the presence or absence of spicules.

Linognathoides laeviusculus (Grube) (Phthiraptera: Anoplura: Polyplacidae) is a louse found on holarctic ground squirrels but little is known about how the life history, physiology, and hibernation of the host influence its population dynamics. Two hundred and fourteen Richardson’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus richardsonii (Sabine); Rodentia: Sciuridae) were trapped over the summer of 2010, and the age, sex, and mass of all euthanised squirrels were recorded. Squirrels were hand-washed to remove lice, which were then identified to species, stage of development, and sex. Linognathoides laeviusculus was the only louse collected. In total, 5057 lice were collected with 63.6% of the squirrels infested at a mean intensity of 37.2 (90% confidence interval=29.98–48.66). Two peaks in prevalence of L. laeviusculus infestations occurred (April and mid-June), and one peak in intensity (June). Juvenile squirrels had higher prevalence and mean intensity when compared to adults. Adult male squirrels had higher mean intensity compared to adult females. Adult lice comprised most of the population infesting emerging adult squirrels in the spring but nymphs predominated for most of the active season of the host. Infestations were highly aggregated with k=0.203 and index of discrepancy D=0.813. The seasonal dynamics of L. laeviusculus appear to be strongly correlated with the annual cycle of the squirrel host.

On a recent visit to Cambridge I was permitted, through the courtesy of the Museum authorities, to examine the types of Chambers' numerous Coleophorid species deposited in this institution and to make genitalic slides of the material. This study has enabled me to clear up a number of doubts which have existed regarding the identity of certain of the species and, I hope, will put our knowledge of the group on a sounder basis than heretofore.

In this paper, a discussion of aspects of the external morphology of Nearctic Craspedolepta Enderlein, 1921 (Homoptera: Psylloidea) is presented. The discussion concerns those structures of the head, thorax, abdomen, and genitalia which were investigated during the course of a systematic and taxonomic study of the genus. It includes, where appropriate, reference to and comparison with other publications on psyllid morphology, especially where the current study illuminates previous discussions of psyllids.

Kalobittacus masoni, new species, and K. similis, new species, are described from tropical Veracruz, Mexico. Kalobittacus similis is compared with K. bimaculatus Esben-Petersen, the only Mexican species of Kalobittacus heretofore known. Males of all three species and females of the two new species are illustrated, and the species are differentiated in a key.

Heliothis stombleri, recently described as a new species from California, is shown to be an aberration of the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie). The aborted condition of the genitalia in the form is probably under genetic control.

The biodiversity of transitional zones is unique, due to mixing and co-occurrence of biotic elements. Despite this, our basic knowledge on distributional patterns of soil microarthropods in areas where biogeographic regions overlap is insufficient. We studied the biogeographic patterns of Protura across three natural landforms in Ukraine within the Transcarpathia (Transcarpathian Lowland, Transcarpathian foothills, and Volcanic Ukrainian Carpathian), which are influenced by adjacent biogeographic areas (mainly Alpine and Pannonian). We hypothesised that these overlaps have brought about an increase in Protura diversity, due to inclusion of faunal elements from diverse origins and differing in geographical histories. Distinct differences in the species composition of Protura were found among lowland, foothill, and mountain sites within Transcarpathia. Mountain sites mainly have Protura species with a wide continental distribution, while species of the foothills mainly stem from the Pannonian biogeographic region. The highest number of proturan endemics was associated with the Transcarpathian foothills. We conclude that the Transcarpathian region can be defined as a biogeographical transition zone for soil microarthopods, exemplified by Protura, and that foothill sites such as the volcanic-tectonic mountain Chorna Hora is a local hotspot of diversity and endemism, representing the most valuable parts of Transcarpathia with respect to diversity and endemism.

Trichosirocalus (= Ceutorhynchidius) horridus (Panzer), introduced from Italy into the USA for the control of Carduus thistles in 1974/75, is well established in Virginia (Kok and Trumble 1979). Field studies on the development of this weevil on Carduus thistles in Italy (K. E. Frick, USDA, Stoneville, Mississippi — pers. comm; Boldt and Campobasso 1981) and in Virginia (Trumble and Kok 1979) revealed that weevil eggs were commonly found in rosettes during the winter months. In Virginia, first instars were detected in rosettes immediately after the snow melted (Trumble and Kok 1979). Therefore, the eggs are exposed to the coldest temperatures in January and February when air temperatures reach −20°C in western Virginia. The effects of such temperatures on the proportion of hatch and on the viability of the hatchlings are not known. In addition, T. horridus has consistently laid the maximum number of eggs in November and December in the laboratory for the past 10 years. Thus, a large supply of thistles had to be grown in the greenhouse to support the weevil population during the winter when plant growth was poor and mortality of laboratory reared T. horridus was high. In any successful biological control program the proper time of release of the beneficial organism as well as numbers available is critical. Successful storage of T. horridus eggs would greatly increase the number of T. horridus available when needed for inoculative releases or experimental purposes. The purpose of this study was to determine suitable temperatures and storage times for T. horridus eggs without affecting hatch and viability.

In certain insects there exist eocrepuscular diel periodicities of activity in which the sunrise peak occurs at a higher light intensity than does the peak at sunset. This may happen because the indicator-process chosen by the observer to designate the activity is not the first in a behavioural sequence released by light of a critical intensity.

Each year since 1911 the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., has taken a toll of the grain crops in some part of the Canadian prairies. The extent of the outbreak has varied from small, isolated areas of infestation to gcneral outbreaks covering over 150,000 square miles. Until 1936 the only practical method of controlling this cutworm was the use of definite cultural practices designed to prevent the moths from ovipositing in certain fields during August and early September.

The methods of Foott and Boyce (1966) and De Ponti and Inggamer (1976) are inadequate to elucidate the residual toxicity of pyrethroids on predacious mites. These products irritate mites to such an extent that, shortly after their exposure to treated leaves, most if not all of the mites attempt to escape the irritant and in the process they are either caught in the Tanglefoot or drown in the water barrier.

There are five known North American species in the genus Hylobius; H. pales (Hbst.), H. congener Dalla Torre, H. pinicola (Couper), H. radicis Buch., and H. warreni Wood. In recent years four of these species have increased considerably in economic importance in central and eastern Canada and the eastern United States; H. pales and H. radicis attacking pines and H. pinicola and H. warreni attacking spruces and pines. H. congener occurs only in small numbers and little is known about its ecology. It is important, therefore, to be able to separate these species readily in the field.

Listronotus montanus (Dietz) is a little known species, distributed in central North America. O'Brien and Wibmer (1982) record its occurrence from Indiana west to Nevada and north to the Prairie Provinces. In Montana, it occurs widely in grasslands east of the Continental Divide (Montana Entomological Collection, unpublished), but is also recorded from Saunders Co. in western Montana (Russell 1968). Nothing has been reported on the biology of this species, but it has been observed on grasses in the Cypress Hills of Alberta (CWOB unpublished). We report the occurrence of this species as a potential pest of small grains.

The proportion of females of the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), reared from periodic samples of larvae and nymphs from a peach orchard averaged about 75% with little seasonal variation. A male can copulate at least 11 times in 2 hr, and inseminate at least 26 females during its life span, but many later copulations inseminate the females incompletely or not at all. Some females copulate at least three times but one copulation with a young male enables a female to lay the usual proportion of fertilized (female) eggs, which exceeds that of unfertilized (male) eggs. No evidence of males with only one nymphal instar, as reported in Europe, was found in mites reared at 15°, 22°, or 30 °C. Males disperse much more rapidly than females.

Studies of the biology of carabids have been limited by the difficulty of sexing living individuals. Mitchell (1963) described the dissection of adults of two carabid species and stated that the aedeagus of the adult male is visible at all stages of maturity.

There appear to be very few published records of the species of the Aquatic Coleoptera found in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. According to Hatch (1928, J. New York Ent. Soc., 36:335-354) only two papers deal with the Coleoptera of Nova Scotia and in each of these papers only a single species of the families of the aquatic beetles is named. Hatch also gives four references to the water beetles of the Labrador Province of Newfoundland; from these I have been able to extract a total of five species listed from Newfoundland proper and a further two species from Nova Scotia. An exhaustive search of literature, including the Leng Catalogue and Supplements, has produced a total of 31 species as previously known from Newfoundland proper, of which two species (Hydroporus obscurus Sturm & Oreodytes alpinus Payk.) must be deleted as erroneous; also 6 species as previously known from Nova Scotia, of which one species (Dytiscus marginalis L.) must be deleted as recorded in error.