The senior author collected several nearly mature lepidopterous larvae found tunnelling in ripening strawberries at Saanich, Vancouver Island, B.C., on June 10, 1957. From larvae reared on fruit in cages in an insectary, six moths emerged, two each on July 15, 18, and 22. These six and another individual collected in flight were identified as the omnivorous leaf tier, Cnephasia longana (Haw.).

Pullus impexus (Muls.) is one of many species of predators that have been introduced into Eastern Canada since 1933 as part of a biological control program against the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.) Delucchi (1954) has published many details of the systematics, biology, and natural control of this species in Europe where he found it to be associated with all A. piceae infestations. According to Pschorn-Walcher and Zwölfer (1960), it is one of a group of predators that are usually associated with lower population densities of A. piceae and other related adelgids, rhan are Aphidoletes thompsoni Möhn and Laricobius erichsonii Rosen. Because it is common on adelgid infestations in Europe and because it can easily be reared en masse, large numbers have been released in North America. The purpose of the present paper is to bring together available information on releases, life-history and natural control, and control value of this species, obtained from studies carried out over the past nine years in New Brunswick.

It is difficult to estimate numbers of small active insects, particularly predators, in fruit-tree canopies because of the frequent and rapid movement of these species. The conventional method of sampling such populations requires tapping the branch to dislodge the insects which fall to a cloth tray from which they are recovered and counted. However, many species take to flight very rapidly and escape before identification is possible. A sampling method was required which would rapidly enclose a volume of the canopy without disturbing the resident population, thereby eliminating inaccuracies in the sample obtained. This note describes a remotely operated mechanical trap which can be placed on a limb in the tree canopy. The insects thus trapped can be immobilized, counted, and identified.

Twig-feeding injuries by S. multistriatus in juvenile white (or American) elms occurred primarily (61%) in the upper 1/3 of the crowns. Preferred feeding sites were crotches formed by the previous year's and current year's twig growth (both spring and summer) and by leaf petioles from current year's twig growth (summer only). An index of twig feeding appeared to reflect S. multistriatus population trends and was closely correlated with Dutch elm disease rates in Syracuse, N.Y., from 1978 to 1982. Twig-feeding indices and catches on sticky traps baited with S. multistriatus pheromone were generally correlated, but disparate when competing natural pheromone sources were abundant. Twig sampling indicated that S. multistriatus populations and disease rates were reduced by mass-trapping and trap-tree techniques. The twig-sampling method presented appears to be useful in predicting Dutch elm disease rates and assessing the effectiveness of measures to control its beetle vector.

Engelmann spruce, Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm. (Pinaceae), in the southern Rocky Mountains is composed of two distinct phloem monoterpene chemotypes that differ in relative abundances of multiple monoterpenes, particularly α-pinene and Δ3-carene (hereafter, the “α-pinene chemotype” and the “Δ3-carene chemotype”). Here, relative toxicity of these chemotypes is tested on spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) (Coleoptera: Scolytinae), a phloeophagous herbivore that colonises trees of both types. Synthetic monoterpene blends representing each chemotype were tested across a range of concentrations (0, 10, 50, 100, 200, and 500 µg/L) in the lab, and probability of survival of adult beetles exposed to each blend was modelled using a logit function. Logit curves were solved to determine LC25, LC50, and LC75 of each monoterpene blend. On average, probability of beetle survival was lower when exposed to the Δ3-carene chemotype than when exposed to the α-pinene chemotype. However, both chemotypes were completely lethal to beetles at concentrations exceeding 100 µg/L. Adult body mass did not affect survival probability. It is concluded that spruce phloem chemotypes may differ in their toxicity to spruce beetles, with potential consequences for patterns of host-tree colonisation by spruce beetle.

Rhamphomyia mutabilis, Loew., has several times been observed preying upon Bibio pallipes, Say. I once saw hundreds of the former on a picket fence that had recently been whitewashed, and all appeared engaged in capturing the latter; at any rate hardly one could be found that was not engaged in sucking the life out of a victim. In one case the sexes were pairing while the female was lunching upon a recently captured Bibio.

Various temperatures were tested for maintaining Pteromalus puparum (L.) adult parasites in the laboratory. Survival of adults caged in groups and supplied with a 10% sugar solution exceeded 80% after 30 days at 15 and 23°C. When kept individually in small gelatin capsules at 3°C, survival was good only up to 15 days. The gelatin capsules, however, allowed easier handling of individual parasites without disturbing the entire group.

In material collected from Costello creek in Algonquin Park, Ontario, 1,549 males, 598 females and 2 pupae of a new species of blackfly were encountered. This species was present in marerial which was collected daily during the spring and summer of the years 1938-1943 using a cubic yard screen cage placed over the stream.

This species began to emerge between May 7 and 23 in most years, but the total number of flies was smaller when emergence began by May 10 than when it began on May 17 or later. The only exception to this occurred in 1938 when emergence began earlier and continued over a much longer period than usual. The main portion of the emergence ended between May 10 and 29 although occasional flies emerged as late as June 18. None of the new species was collected in 1942. Association of males and females of the new species was possible as both sexes emerged during the same period and as other species, emerging at the same time, were readily identified in both sexes.

Ten new synonyms are noted in the genera Epistrophe and Syrphus. Lectotypes are designated for Didea alneti (Fallén) and for five species described in Syrphus and now referred, as valid species or as junior synonyms, to Epistrophe or Syrphus. Two new species of Syrphus, intricatus and sonorensis, are described from western North America. Keys to the Nearctic species of Didea, Epistrophe (Epistrophe), and Syrphus, and summaries of species distribution, are presented. Syrphus sexmaculatus (Zetterstedt) is recorded from North America for the first time.

A second species of the dry wood termite genus Marginitermes Krishna is described from Baja California del Sur, Mexico, and a redescription of the genus is provided. Soldier head capsules, mandibles, antennae, labra, postmenta, and pronota are illustrated for Marginitermes cactiphagus Myles sp.nov. and Marginitermes hubbardi (Banks). Both species occur in dead skeletons of columnar cacti and other wood species. Both species differ from related drywood termites in the structure of the proventricular armature, suggestive of unique adaptation for intestinal manipulation of cactus wood fibres. Marginitermes is shown to be related to a western continental subgroup of Incisitermes comprised of I. minor (Hagen), I. marginipennis (Latreille), and I. fruticavus Rust.

A bioassay with elder pith wafers was developed to measure sustained feeding of the pales weevil, Hylobius pales (Herbst). Sucrose, fructose, glucose, and extracts of phloem of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) were compared in three-choice experiments. Intensity of feeding indicated a synergistic effect occurred when sucrose and phloem lipid were present together. The non-polar or neutral lipid fraction of phloem stimulated more feeding than did the polar lipid fraction.

A technique for ageing cocoons of Neodiprion sertifer (Geoff.) is outlined using the redox dye 2,6-dichloroindophenol. New cocoons reduce 1 ml of a 0.001% solution in 85% ethanol from blue to colorless in 15 minutes. This reducing power diminishes with age.

Two new species of Platygaster accounting for high rates of parasitism in balsam gall midge are described. These appear to be widely distributed within the range of balsam fir in North America.

Until 1951 the Canadian National Collection of Insects lacked specimens of the barberry geometrid, Coryphista meadi (Packard), from Eastern Canada. In that year Mr. W. E. Whitehead, Macdonald College, Que., forwarded for identification two specimens taken in Kings County, N.S., and on learning of the interest of the record he kindly presented them to the National Collection. In 1952 an outbreak of the species in the Ottawa region caused minor damage to ornamental barberry bushes. Several enquiries about the insect were received, and MacKay (in preparation) studied its life-history.

Methyl laurate applied to the surface of house cricket eggs induces a melanization of the extra-embryonic fluid which is due to the oxidation and polymerization of dopamine. Melanization can be delayed or prevented by the addition of 5% vitamin E to the methyl laurate. Methyl laurate appears to activate a phenolase system in the extra-embryonic fluid, and this system or activation of this system is inhibited by vitamin E.

Chrysocharis laricinellae (Ratz.) from Austria, Sweden, England, and Wisconsin, some of which were thought possibly different species, were crossed. Hybrid sex ratios in this arrhenotokous species were similar to parental types, indicating conspecificity. English and Wisconsin strains tended toward darker legs and female scapes.

Numerous species of bees, commonly referred to Panurginus, must, as has been shown by Crawford, be referred to Pseudopanurgus. This is brought out, not only by venation, but also by characters of the genitalia and sternites. It is possible that these insects are to be separated subgenerically from the coarsely punctate, typical, Pseudopanurgus, but their relationship is not with Panurginus. The South American species which I have seen are also Pseudopanurgus.

In recent years the black cutworm, Agrotis ypsilon (Rott.), has been the predominant species of economic importance in southwestern Ontario. Relatively small populations of this insect can cause extensive damage to widely-spaced cash crops such as tobacco, tomatoes, and sugar beets.

Present control recommendations are based primarily on results obtained from field trials. These results are often inconclusive because cutworm outbreaks are difficult to predict and usually unevenly distributed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop laboratory techniques to assist in assessing the comparative toxicity of insecticides and their formulations.

I present the systematics and distribution of a new species of oribatid mite in the genus Metrioppia Grandjean, 1931 (Oribatida: Peloppiidae) from western North America. Metrioppia walbranensisnew species is diagnosed on the basis of adult morphology using the following character states: shape and dentition of the rostrum, length of lamellae, shape of lamellar cusps, length of the interlamellar setae, and number of posterior notogastral setae. The known distribution of M. walbranensis is provided based on sampling and museum collections. Metrioppia walbranensis has been collected only from a small number of locations on south-west Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, while its congener M. oregonensis Woolley and Higgins, 1969 has been collected widely within the Pacific Northwest, including sites on Vancouver Island. However, the two species do not appear to co-occur. Nucleotide sequence of the COI gene firmly places Metrioppia within the family Peloppiidae.

Laboratory tests of heptachlor-resistance in larvae and adults from treated and untreated farm populations of Hylemya floralis (Fall.) showed that only larvae were developing resistance. Therefore it is suggested that all life-stages of insect pests should be tested to determine which stage soonest reflects the highest level of resistance. This stage could be used to detect levels of resistance in the field and to permit alteration of control programs, to prevent development of complete resistance and the consequent loss of crop.

Third-instar larvae from the farm where all cruciferous crops had been treated with heptachlor annually, from 1952 to 1961, were resistant to 80 times greater concentrations of heptachlor than those from the untreated farm. From 1962 to 1964 the level of resistance remained constant in third-instar larvae from the untreated farm but it decreased fivefold in those from the treated farm. This decreased resistance is attributed to dilution of the population by non-resistant H. floralis from adjoining crops untreated during this period.