This family has been associated usually, as a tribe, with the family Bembicidae, with which, however, according to my views, it has no relationship whatever. It is in reality much closer allied to the Nyssonidae, next to which I have placed it, and from which some of the species are separated with difficulty.

The characters made use of in my table of families will, however, I think readily separate these three families, and it is unnecessary to repeat them here.

In an evaluation of several chemosterilants for insect control Borkovec (1972) stresses their safe handling. The compound tris (l-ziridinyl) phosphine sulphide, trivial name thiotepa, is currently being tested as a sterilant against several insects. More recently, Terry et al. (1977) noticed a 99 to 100% sterility in boll weevils treated with thiotepa. When 0- to 24-h-old pupae of Trogoderma granarium Everts were dipped in 1% thiotepa for 8 min only 0.1% of their eggs hatched (Chaudhary and Kapil 1977). The males of Earias vitella F. were also sterilized when their pupae were dipped in 0.5 to 0.75% thiotepa (Singh et al. 1978). Finally, no eggs hatched when Dysdercus koenigii (F.) was topically treated with 4 pg of thiotepa per insect (Govindan and Pillai 1977).

The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is one of the most destructive bark beetles found on pine in western North America (McCambridge et al. 1979), particularly in forests of lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Douglas var. latifolia (Furniss and Carolin 1977). The treatment registered in the United States for the protection of high-value trees in residential areas and recreational areas is 2% carbaryl applied to the bole of the tree with a hydraulic sprayer. Recently, pine oil, a derivative of paper pulp waste, was found to be an effective non-insecticidal repellent against several species of bark beetles (Nijholt et al. 1981).

Epiblema (Notocelia) cynosbatella (Linnaeus), introduced into British Columbia in 1978, is discussed and compared with the native North American Epiblema illotana (Walsingham).

Scelio spp. are important parasites of grasshopper eggs in many countries of the world. However, no information regarding these species is available for Pakistan. Therefore, a study was undertaken to record incidence, distribution, and biology of important species of Pakistan during 1970–74. Some species of Scelio such as S. hieroglyphi, S. sp. ? mauritanicus, Scelio sp. B and C, S. sp. nr. popovi, and Scelio sp. A are restricted in distribution; the first four species are host specific while others can parasitize many hosts. S. aegyptiacus, S. sp. nr. serdangensis, and S. sp. ? tristis are polyphagous and found in many areas of Pakistan. Mortality ranging between 3% and 69% of grasshopper eggs due to factors other than parasitism also occurs. Large sized egg-pods are partially parasitized as grasshopper nymphs also emerge along with the parasites, whereas in pods with fewer eggs nothing except the parasites emerge and are called fully parasitized. Of the nine species of Scelio reared from 3708 egg-pods of 16 grasshopper species, biology of S. aegyptiacus, S. hieroglyphi, and Scelio sp. A was studied which is almost identical in all the species. Immature stages comprising egg, 2 larval instars, and pupa of S. aegyptiacus are developed at 31.5°C ± 3 in 2–3, 10–11, and 7–8 days respectively. The female has the capacity to lay 121–135 eggs. Prior to oviposition, mating lasting 1–2 min takes place and a hole is drilled in the froth-plug. Freshly laid egg-pods are preferred over old during parasitization.

Last year our bed of garden parsnips turned out so badly in consequence of the protracted drought of the season that most of them were not worth digging; thinking, however, that we might as well get some seed from them asthey were a good variety, we left them where they were for the winter. When spring came they looked beautifully fresh and green, and soon grew most luxuriantly, sending up tall stems and producing huge umbels of flowers. There was a grand prospect of a fine crop of seed, and we began to promise supplies of it to some of our neighbors, who complained that their's was not satisfactory,—all, indeed, looked fair and promising till the last week in June, when “a change came O'er the spirit of our dream !” The fine umbels of flowers began to look rather unhappy.

This deals with the distributions of Papilio machaon L., Oeneis chryxus strigulosa McD., and Boloria napaea Hoff., as correlated with the basic geological formations to which they are evidently restricted.

Action thresholds for imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.), diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), and cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), were evaluated on two cultivars of cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata (L.), in Prince Edward Island. Thresholds were tested on plots of mid-season cabbage, cv. Minicole, and late-season cabbage, cv. Lennox, both grown for fresh market in 1991 and 1992. Management of larval populations at a threshold of 0.25 Cabbage Looper Equivalents (CLE) per plant resulted in yields equal to those obtained with bi-weekly applications or grower treatments. Higher thresholds of 0.50 and 1.0 CLE per plant were not as useful and did’ not consistently result in yields greater than untreated plots. Use of the threshold of 0.25 CLE per plant reduced the number of applications of insecticides by 30% compared with spraying insecticide at bi-weekly intervals from heading to harvest, and 43% compared with management by the grower without regard to insect populations or growth stage of the crop.

The oribatid fauna of commercial balsam fir [Abies balsamea (L.)] forests of western Newfoundland were surveyed through Berlese funnel extraction of samples taken from soil and various forest microhabitats. A total of 83 species or species complexes representing 39 families was collected. Fourteen genera and 36 species are new records for Newfoundland. One genus, Haplozetes Willmann, 1935, is a new record for Canada. For each species, notes on abundance in soil samples and distribution among microhabitats are provided and for the more abundant species, seasonal variation in abundance of immature and adult stages is plotted.

Dactylopius sorghiellus, Forbes. Syn. D. Kingii, Ckll.

Dr. S. A. Forbes has kindly sent me the type material of this species, which I have examined with much interest. The material studied consisted of 4 specimens. As is usual with these subterranean forms the antennæ are quite variable, both in the number of segments and their relative length.

Only two of the antennæ of the 4 specimens were 8 jointed, the others being 7-jointed, and some plainly aborted. After careful measurement and study, I conclude that the forms described by Cockerell in Science-Gossip, Feb., 1897, p. 240, as D. Kingii, must be referred to this species.

The Holarctic Scopula cajanderi (Herz) species group is revised on the basis of external and genitalic characters. The taxa included in the species group are Scopula cajanderi (Herz, 1903 [not 1904]) (= the Palaearctic Scopula elwesi sajanensis Prout, 1935 syn.nov., = the Palaearctic Scopula elwesi achlyoides Prout, 1935 syn.nov., = the Nearctic Scopula septentrionicola McDunnough, 1939 syn.nov.), thus making S. cajanderi Holarctic; Scopula mustangensis Yazaki, 1995; and Scopula aegrefasciatasp.nov. Lectotypes are designated for the following species which were described from more than one specimen without holotype designation: S. cajanderi, Scopula anaitaria (Herz, 1903), and S. e. achlyoides. The systematic position of Scopula elwesi elwesi Prout, 1922 within the genus Scopula is uncertain. A key to the species is presented with illustrations of the adults and genitalia, and a distribution map is presented for all taxa. An examination of the biogeography of S. cajanderi suggests that the Wisconsinan and Sartan glaciations may have played a part in the origin of the disjunct populations.

This portion of the synopsis was kindly prepared by Mr. J. C. Crawford, and is based on material, in the main, from Dr. Cordley, of Corvallis, Oregon; Prof. Harvey, of Victoria, British Columbia, and Mr. Venables, of Vernon. B.C. A species from Montana is also described.

Larvae and eonymphs of the diprionid sawflies Neodiprion lecontei (Fitch), Neodiprion swainei Midd., and Diprion hercyniae (Htg.) were dissected and stained to demonstrate the nervous system and endocrine organs. Morphologically and anatomically the endocrine organs in both larvae and eonymphs of all three species are very similar. The cephalic structures comprise lateral and medial neurosecretory cells in the brain which discharge their secretions through a single pair of nerves (NCC) to the corpora cardiaca. The NCC divide before they enter the corpora cardiaca sending a branch to the corresponding corpus allatum. No other nervous connections with these organs are apparent.

Paired neurohaemal organs occur in each thoracic segment, forming distinct dilations on slender nerves arising from the ventral cord connectives. They receive secretions from groups of lateral neurosecretory cells in the thoracic ganglia.

Each abdominal ganglion has three neurohaemal organs associated with it, a single small spherical structure antero-medially, and paired lateral organs of a diffuse structure, overlying the base of each segmental nerve. They are less conspicuous than the thoracic organs and have different staining properties.

The relative importance of position and color in nest-entrance recognition was tested in two bumble bee species, Bombus griseocollis (Degeer) and B. occidentalis Greene, using two identical sheds, each bearing a horizontal row of four nest-entrances marked with colored discs to which workers returned after foraging in the field. The bees were trained successively to either a yellow or a green disc on each of the four positions (alternating between the sheds), the other three positions being marked with black discs during each training period. The positions to which bees returned after moving the colored disc to each of the other three positions following each training period were recorded.The results indicate: (1) that the importance of position relative to color was greater at the end positions than in the inner positions; (2) that whereas B. griseocollis relied more on color relative to position than did B. occidentalis when the bees had been trained to the outer positions, the converse held true for inner positions; (3) that position was more important relative to color when the bees were homing than when they were choosing a position at which to alight or enter. Ecological and behavioral implications of the results are discussed.

This group includes, besides semivittatus Say, trivittatus Lec., and the recently described castanicolor Fall, two species which have been confused with semivittatus and two others which have been identified as fuscu1us Lec. The species agree well among themselves in body form, type of sculpture, and type of aedfagus, and differ from each other mainly in characters of the antennae and vestiture and in color.

In the early part of June, 1876, while plowing through a patch of Asclepias cornuti (the plant upon which beetles of the above genus are found), I observed numerous cerambycidian larvæ in the bottom of the furrow, stirring about in the soil. Two of the larvæ were put in a glass jar with a growing milk-weed plant. Although they were put in the soil near the roots, they soon came to the surface and wriggled about for a week, and then pupated, and finally came out perfect specimens of T. tetrophthalmus.

In the writer's treatise on the North American species of the genus Aeschna (Walker, '12) the nymph of A. juncea L. was described from exuviae collected by the late Dr. F. Ris at Cierfs, Switzerland. One of the exuviae was accompanied by a teneral imago. A single female exuvia from Nipigon, Ont., very closely resembling the Swiss specimens, was tentatively referred in the same work (p. 98) to A. subarctica Wlk. rather than juncea, although both species were flying at the spot where the exuvia was found.