Pieris rapae (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) is endemic in the Canary Islands, presumably since Roman times. Average temperatures at sea level on Tenerife and La Gomera range from 17°C at midwinter to 25°C in summer. If the argument of Gilbert and Raworth (1996) is correct, we might expect the development threshold of P. rapae in the Canaries to be 17°C, much higher than the 10°C observed elsewhere: Cambridge, U.K.; Cordoba, Spain; Pompei, Italy; Montpellier, France; Vancouver, Canada; and Canberra, Australia (Gilbert 1988).

Psilopa flavida, n. sp. ♂.—Yellow, polished, the third joint of antennæ, except the lower side, dark brown; hairs and macrochætæ black, a vitta reaching from humerus to insertion of wing, and another on middle of pleura, black; abdomen, except first segment and middle of the second, black, with a strong violaceous tinge; knob of halteres greenish yellow; wings grayish hyaline, unmarked; two pairs of dorso-central mocrochætæ; length 2.5 mm. New Bedford, Mass. A single specimen collected by Dr. Garry de N. Hough. Type No. 4292. U. S. Nat. Museum.

Methods of sampling to measure factors affecting fluctuations of a population of the Oriental fruit moth, Grapholitha molesta (Busck), on the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario were investigated from 1963 to 1967 in peach orchards in which no insecticides were used during the study. In most years females tended to be distributed evenly throughout the orchard and even at low fruit moth densities the trees were relatively evenly infested. Several sampling methods gave estimates of the numbers of larvae overwintering in the orchard only within wide limits but indicated that the numbers were probably small in all years. Eggs could be sampled but it was not practicable at the low densities of the moth in this study. No satisfactory method of sampling summer cocoons or adults was found. Destructive sampling of the larvae, in which they were removed from the trees and reared to maturity on green apples, gave the most precise estimates of numbers in each generation. The method also gave a measure of mortality, parasitism, and times and duration of each generation.

Agriotes limosus LeConte is the third North American species of Agriotes Eschscholtz for which the larva definitely is known. It is a woodland form and, therefore, of much less economic importance than the meadow-inhabiting species such as Agriotes mancus Say, the wheat wireworm, but it is of greater taxonomic significance since it lacks the characters that have been universally regarded as definitive of Agriotes larvae.

Preliminary observations show that the pigmentation of eggs and other tissues in conifer sawflies is a valuable taxonomic criterion when the colour can be described objectively in such a way as to allow mathematical analysis of the data. Reproducible semi-integral attenuance spectra covering the spectrsl range 30 kc./cm. to 13 kc./cm. are obtained usins Shibata's opal glass technique for the examination of translucent material. Tfiese spectra are plotted as the log of the semi-integral attenuance and analyzed both qualitatively for positions of maxima and minima, and quantitatively for the relative attenuance level at given spectral positions. The homogeneity of quantitative data from different samples is tested graphically by the triangular co-ordinate method.

We investigated parasitism of the purple loosestrife beetle, Neogalerucella calmariensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), an introduced weed biological control agent, at 13 sites in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, Canada. Beetles were parasitized by gregarine gut protozoans (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinida) and much less commonly by nematodes (Nematoda: probably Mermithidae) and ectoparasitic mites (Acari: Erythraeidae). Female beetles had more gregarines than did males and the gregarine load was marginally higher in individuals from the original release sites than in individuals from recently colonized sites. Despite its overall success as a biological control agent, N. calmariensis harbours a substantial parasite load.

Ripersia, Sign.

Ripersia lasii, Ckll, 1896. (Native.) Originally described from ant-nests in Mass.; was found in an ants' nest (Lasius Americanus, Em.) at Toronto, Canada, in 1897, by Mr. R. J. Crew. It has been found infesting the roots of China asters in Mass.

Bib.—Can. Ent., xxxi. (1899), 110.

Dactylopius, Costa.

Dactylopius longispinus, Targ. (Introduced.) The greenhouse Mealy bug, fouud throughout the civilized world, occurs in Canada in all the Provinces where greenhouse plants are grown; it is recorded from South Quebec.

Bib.—29th Annual Report, Ent. Soc., Ont., 1898, 43.

The following table is intended to serve as a means of separating the species of the genus Agapostemon, Smith, occurring in Colorado: Body green or blue-green.

The variation in several morphological characters of adults and pupal exuviae of Tanytarsus heusdensis Goetgh. sensu auctorum (Tanytarsus usmaënsis Pagast according to Reiss, pers. comm.) in populations from some lakes and from brackish water in Finland was studied in order to check the homogeneity of the material. Significant differences were found in LRI, wing length, AR, and LRIII of males. In pupal exuviae the number of hairs on the anal lobes shows considerable variation in both sexes, and the average length of the spine comb on dorsal tergites III–VI differs in different populations. Nevertheless, from mathematical analysis of the data it is concluded that the differences observed do not indicate the existence of more than one species in the material studied.

Two new species of Braconidae are described from North America. Illidops terrestris new species was reared from Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller), and is the first described species of Illidops from North America. Bracon compressitarsis new species was reared from the boll weevils Anthonomus grandis Boheman and A. hunteri Burke and Cate. It is distinguished from other braconids previously recorded from boll weevils.

Two hundred and nineteen primary types of Aculeata housed in the Canadian National Collection were examined and listed. These were contributed by the following authors: Olmi (56), Evans (31), Viereck (27), Allen (23), Cockerell (21), van Lith (10), Sladen (10), Timberlake (6), Mickel (5), Carter (4), Provancher (4), Williams (3), Francoeur (2), Michener (2), Townes (2), Atwood (1), Bequaert (1), Bohart (1), Finnamore (1), Huber (1), Krombein (1), Laberge and Bouseman (1), Mitchell (1), Ponomarenko (1), Sandhouse (1), Say (1), Shanks (1), and Siri and Bohart (1).

The following descriptions of five new genera and species of Tachinidae are based upon material received from several sources as indicated below. Most of the species have been standing in my collection for a number of years pending the accumulation of longer series. My thanks are due A. R. Brooks for the loan of some additional material recently discovered in the extensive tachinid collections in the Canadian Department of Agriculture. The type or paratype specimens, of the two species represented by this material, are returned for deposit in the Canadian Collection, as detailed under the descriptions.

Batrachedra Herrich-Schäffer, 1853 (Lepidoptera: Batrachedridae) is a widespread genus with species concentrated in tropical areas. This genus of about 140 described species has been put in several lepidopteran families, most recently in the Batrachedridae (Hodges 1999; Koster 2002). Batrachedra has 25 Nearctic species (Hodges 1983; Koster 2002), 17 Neotropical species (Becker 1984), 6 Palearctic species (Koster 2002), and 29 Australian species (Edwards 1996). Additional species occur in other areas such as Indonesia (Baringbing 1986). Here I report that the Palearctic species Batrachedra pinicolella (Zeller, 1839) is established in Connecticut, United States of America. Until now the range of the species was restricted to European countries and the far eastern Palearctic region (Riedl 1969, 1996; Bolov and Sinev 1990). The disjunct Asian populations may represent accidental introductions.

The threshold temperature (t0) for both oviposition and egg development and the thermal constant (K) for egg development were determined using linear regression analysis for an Ontario population of the spotted tentiform leafminer, Phyllonorycter blancardella (Fabr.). Fecundity was highly variable, ranging from 1 to 152 eggs, and was not significantly affected by temperature. Calculation of the daily oviposition rates for the first 4 days of the experiment and for the period from the beginning of the experiment until the day on which the last egg was laid resulted in estimates of the oviposition threshold of 9.1 and 8.9°C, respectively. The threshold temperature for egg development was estimated as 2.5°C and the thermal constant for egg development as 172.5 degree-days.

Head and palpi very pale ochreous, almost white, a little darker on top, a dark brown spot extends almost entirely around the base of the third joint of the palpi, and another entirely around it before the apex. Antennae brownish, with about six white annulations in the apical part.Thorax and base of the wings pale ochreous, sparsely dusted with fuscous, with a fuscous line across the wing close to the base. About the basal one-fourth of the wing a fuscous streak passes obliquely backwards as far as the fold, and from thence to the apex the wing is pale ochreous, rather thickly dusted with fuscous and dark ochreous, with the extreme apex fiscous.