The following report deals with three apparently undescribed species of Macrosiphina collected upon Lonicera and Geranium in the Logan Canyon-Beaver Creek areas of northern Utah and just over the state line into Idaho.

2. Argynnis Oweni, n. sp.

Male—Expands 2.25 inches.

Upper dull side red-fulvous, not much obscured by brown at base; the markings rather heavy, the two marginal lines on both wings more or less confluent. Under side of primaries either yellow-buff from base to the row of ronded spots, the nervules being red-brown, or the interspaces are very ligtly washed with this colour over the buff ground; the subapical patch dark brown with a small imperfectly silvered spot; the five submarginal spots also are of same character; sometimes the silver is wholly wanting.

A new species of leafhopper, Draeculacephala robinsoni, very similar to D. portola Ball, has been examined and found to be distinct from that species, on the bases of internal male genitalia and vertex angle.

In this study, we explore the low-temperature thresholds of a pest of apple (Malus pumila Miller; Rosaceae), the eyespotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana Denis and Schiffermüller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), in the context of spring frost. Spilonota ocellana overwinters as a larva, resuming activity and feeding early in the growing season when it could be vulnerable to unexpected freezing temperatures. We determined that the mean supercooling point of spring instars did not differ for larvae within or outside leaf shelters and ranged from −9.1±0.2 °C for fourth instars, to −7.9±0.2 °C for sixth instars. Larval weight increased with instar and was positively related to the supercooling point. As some insects are freeze tolerant and able to recover from freezing, we also exposed larvae to brief freeze events between −4.5 °C and −9.5 °C and found that the median lower lethal temperature, was −7.3±0.4 °C across all instars; indicating that S. ocellana spring instars are susceptible to freezing temperatures above their supercooling point. These low-temperature thresholds suggest that in the spring, S. ocellana larvae are chill susceptible, and a hard frost (<−7 °C) would be necessary to cause significant larval mortality.

The insect-catching powers of those curious plants, the Fly-traps (Dionæ), the Sun-dews (Drosera) and the Trumpet-leaves (Sarracenia) have always attracted the attention of the curious, but renewed interest has been alvakened in them by virtue of the interesting experiments and observations on their structure, habit and function, that have lately been recorded, and especially by the summing up of these observations in some charming papers by Prof. Asa Gray, which recently appeared in The Nation and The New York Tribune, under the title of “Insectivorous Plants.”

The conopid fly Stylogaster neglecta Williston (Diptera: Conopidae) is a parasitoid with no known host. We report this species as the first recorded dipteran parasitoid of Oecanthus nigricornis Walker (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) (black-horned tree crickets). We reared field-collected O. nigricornis juveniles over several months in 2017 and found that larval S. neglecta emerged from them during late July into August. We estimated the incubation period for S. neglecta larvae to be around 30 days based on the length of time it took for them to emerge from the host and pupate (subsequently all hosts died). We documented several cases of multiple parasitism. In 2018, we dissected O. nigricornis sampled from four sites across southern Ontario, Canada and upstate New York, United States of America and found that the percentage of juvenile O. nigricornis parasitised ranged 2–39%. Further sampling will be necessary to determine whether this variation represents consistent population differences or between-year variation in parasitism.

Porapak Q-captured volatiles from both sexes of Trypodendron betulae Swaine (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) excised from newly attacked logs of paper birch, Betula papyrifera Marshall (Betulaceae), as well as volatiles from unattacked birch logs, were analysed by coupled gas chromatographic electroantennographic detection analysis. Active compounds were identified by gas chromatographic mass spectroscopy. The enantiomeric ratio of 6-ethenyl-2,2,6-trimethyloxan-3-ol (linalool oxide pyranoid) was determined using a Cyclodex B column. Field-trapping experiments disclosed that the female-produced aggregation pheromone of T. betulae is a blend of the (3S,6R)-trans- and (3R,6R)-cis-linalool oxide pyranoid. Trap catches were synergistically increased when the pheromone was combined with both the host volatile ethanol and with conophthorin, which was found in female beetles as well as host volatiles. Use of linalool oxide pyranoid reproductively isolates T. betulae from sympatric Trypodendron Stephens species for which only (+)-lineatin has been identified as an aggregation pheromone.

Typhlocyba pomaria McA., with two generations per year, damages the leaves and defaces the fruit of apple. It was reduced in numbers in an experimental orchard by the predatory mirid Blepharidopterus angulatus (Fall.) which attacked the second generation. The cold-hardiness of T. pomaria and B. angulatus overwintering eggs, which had mean freezing points of −35 °C and −34 °C respectively, was sufficient to protect these species from winter low temperatures in Nova Scotia.

One parasitic dipterous species and 27 parasitic hymenopterous species were collected. Parasites were primarily collected by mass-rearing host larvae on cut host plant foliage in the laboratory or by rearing larvae on artificial diet. The tachinid Nemorilla pyste (Walk.) and five hymenopterous species, Glypta n. sp. (Ichneumonidae), Campoplex sp. (Ichneumonidae), Agathis acrobasidis (Cushman) (Braconidae), Elasmus atratus How. (Eulophidae), and Catolaccus aeneoviridis Girault (Pteromalidae), were definite parasites, and biological notes are given. Collection data are also given for the other 22 species.

One reduviid predator, Zelus socius Uhler, and six spiders were observed feeding on C. houstonana.

A total of 34 species of female tabanids were collected with CO2-traps from four different habitats near Guelph, Ont., during the 1971, 1972, and 1973 fly seasons. Nearly equal numbers of species were trapped at the Ontario Reformatory, Preston, Kortright, and the Hanlon Creek watershed, comprising a total of 15 Chrysops spp., 12 Hybomitra spp., 6 Tabanus spp., and 1 Atylotus sp. Relative abundance and flight periods are reported for each species. Chrysops frigidus O. S. and Hybomitra lasiophthalma (Macq.) were the most abundant species among their respective tribes; their abundance was related directly to degree of soil wetness, differing from that of Tabanus similis Macq. and T. quinquevittatus Wd. which was related inversely to these habitat types. The flight period of nearly 85% of the sampled population, consisting mainly of C. frigidus, H. lasiophthalma, and H. epistates (O.S.), spanned from the end of May till mid-July. T. quinquevittatus, T. lineola Fab., and H. epistates occurred till mid-September.

The pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., a pest of crops in the plains areas, occurs in central Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada southward to various areas of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico in the United States. It has been suggested that in the prepupal stage this cutworm is able to adapt itself to a wide range of climatic and geographic conditions and to retain a univoltine life cycle. The investigations reported here were made to determine the effects of temperature, moisture, and larval weights on the duration of the prepupal and pupal stages.

On the 5th of July, a friend brought me a very remarkable Larva that he found in a field the previous evening, and which had attracted his attention by the light it emitted. When alive it was about an inch and a half in length, and 0.25 inch in width across the middle, its general appearance being long and narrow; it is flattened above, and composed of twelve segments (exclusive of the head); each segment is broad and cut squarely, and overlaps the following one, the posterior angles being a little acute ; the anterior segment is gradually narrowed in front and rectilineally truncate, forming a shield to the head which is retractile within it ; each of the first three segments has a pair of claw-like legs attached to it beneath. The general colour of the insect is a dark drab, the posterior angles of each segment, the softer connecting portion between the segments, and the under side of the body being much paler, and of a somewhat dirty yellow hue; on each side there is a deeply impressed line in which the spiracles are situated.

A survey of larval and pupal populations of the spruce bud moth, Zeiraphera canadensis Mutuura and Freeman (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), conducted from 1994 to 1996 in eastern Newfoundland, disclosed that the incidence of endemic parasitism by Hymenoptera was up to 50% for Tycherus osculator (Thünberg) (Ichneumonidae), up to 15% for Earinus zeirapherae (Walley), under 3% for Ascogaster (Wesmael 1835) sp. and Clinocentrus (Haliday 1833) sp. (Braconidae), and under 1% for Lamachus (Foerster 1868) sp. and Triclistus (Foerster 1868) sp. (Ichneumonidae). Tycherus osculator, E. zeirapherae, Ascogaster sp., and Clinocentrus sp. represent new distributional range extensions to Newfoundland, and to the nearctic region in the case of T. osculator. The biology of European populations of T. osculator was studied on a natural host, Zeiraphera diniana (Guenée). Only females overwintered and ovarian maturation did not occur until after several months of exposure to near-freezing temperatures. Tycherus osculator successfully parasitized prepupae and pupae of Z. diniana of all ages but, in the laboratory, appeared to prefer pupae. Host feeding by T. osculator was common but not necessary for ovarian maturation. Tycherus osculator imported from Europe attacked and successfully developed within the spruce bud moth host in laboratory screenings. Morphological comparisons indicated that T. osculator reared from Z. canadensis were smaller than those reared from Z. diniana. Tycherus osculator obtained from either Newfoundland or Europe may have potential as a biological control of Z. canadensis in mainland Canada, where it is presently absent.

Proteoptervx Willingana, sp. nov.

♂, 18 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, antennæ and fore wings, same shade of very light tan or pale brownish-fuscous, overlaid with a few blackish brown scales.

Palpi: outer joint short, obtusely pointed; tuft on second joint flattened and appressed, lower scales extending to outer end of outer joint. Head roughtly scaled. Eyes black with coppery reflection. Antennæ annulated with fuscous and brown. Thorax smooth.

Only two species of Corixidae, commonly known as water boatmen, are known to occur in both the Old and New Worlds. One of these is Callicorixa producta Reuter, which Hungerford (1948) has divided into three subspecies. On the basis of existing records the typical subspecies is restricted to the Scandinavian peninsula and Finland. The second subspecies, producta sackalinensis (Matsumura), is so far known only from northern Manchuria and Sakhalin Island. The third subspecies, producta noorvikensis Hungerford, appears to straddle the Rering Sea, specimens being recorded from near Kolyma River in Siberia and from Bering Island in the Komandorskies east across Alaska and Northwest Territories to Hudson Bay.

Leafhoppers of the genera Orocastus and Auridius are locally abundant in grassland regions in Western Canada. They are small insects, the males golden yellow and the females stramineous in colour. The two genera are distinguished from each other by characters of the internal male genitalia. The species are distinguished primarily by these characters and by the form of the seventh sternite of the female. There has been some confusion between the species, partly because the sexes were wrongly associated by some authors and partly because the extent of the individual variation was not appreciated fully. The following are descriptions and illustrations of the distinctive character; of the four species found in Canada, with notes on the distributions and variation. One species new to science is described and one species is reduced to synonymy.