A no-choice feeding study was used to evaluate larch casebearer development and survival on eight species of conifer seedlings and two foliar stages of larch from molting to the fourth-instar larvae through adult eclosion. Percentage survival through adult eclosion varied on foliage of western larch (spring—flush stage, 44%; fall—bud set stage, 23%), Douglas-fir (40%), grand fir (26%), Englemann spruce (26%), western white pine (10%), and lodgepole pine (6%). No survival occurred on ponderosa pine or western hemlock. The rate of development differed among conifer seedling species, and between foliar stages of larch.

Ceratophyllus swansoni Liu, 1935, was described from one male and one female specimen collected from a long-eared owl, “Asio wilsonianus” [A. otus ssp.], at Fertile, Minnesota. The species is not well known in collections, and the writerknows of only one other published record, from Beaverhead Co., Montana, reared from nests of the same owl (Jellison et al., 1943). The host affinities of C. swansoni have remained uncertain, as predatory birds are not usually normal hosts of fleas.

The discovery of Camilla glabra (Fallen) in Ottawa, Canada, is the first record of the existence in the New World of any member of the interesting little family Camillidae. A single male specimen taken June 15, 1954, by D. G. F. Cobb while collecting insects in her garden, would seem to indicate the species is established here.

The family Camillidae consists of the single genus Camilla Haliday, which for many years was assigned to the family Drosophilidae. Frey, (1921) considered it sufficiently differentiated from the Drosophilidae to warrant separate status and erected the family Camillidae to receive it. Duda (1934), Wheeler (1952, p. 164), and Collin (1956) all recognized the group as a family distinct from the Drosophilidae. More recently, Hennig (1958, p. 665) placed it as a separate family in the Drosophiloidea, pointing out that while it has certain characters in common with Curtonotidae and Drosophilidae, it shows even more affinities with Diastatidae and Ephydridae.

Nearly all the Chalcidid parasites of Coccidæ belong to the subfamilies Aphelininæ and Encyrtinæ. So universal is this rule that it is remarkable to rear anything else from a Coccid (excluding, of course, hyperparasites). One or two Mymarids and the species of the curious subfamily Signiphorinæ live in the eggs of scale insects, and we are just beginning to realize that there is a peculiar group of genera allied to the old subfamily Pireninæ which also have this habit.

Feeding activity is a crucial measure used in experiments with larvae of Pseudosarcophaga affinis auct. nec Fallén on chemically defined diets to determine whether food selection and preference occurs because of nutritional factors. To avoid temporal bias in recording it was necessary to know: (1) when during larval development feeding activity is greatest; and (2) whether a diel periodicity of feeding activity demands that observations be standardized according to time of day. Experiments done at 23 °C and 16-hour photoperiod with new-born larvae showed that: (1) during larval life feeding activity increases rapidly up to 96 hours of age and thereafter slowly decreases; and (2) on the two diets tested more feeding occurred during darkness but only on one diet was the difference (about 7.3%) statistically significant. Thus in P. affinis it is seldom necessary to control for time of day in experiments of the kind used in the work on food selection and preference.

Hypericum perforatum L., St. John's - wort (Hypericaceae), is a cosmopolitan weed that, when eaten by livestock, causes photodermatitis, reduced weight gain, and, in extreme cases, death (Giese 1980). Chrysolina hyperici (Forester) and Chrysolina quadrigemina (Suffr.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) dramatically reduced populations of H. perforatum when introduced into Australia (Clark 1953) and the United States (Holloway and Huffaker 1951; Holloway 1957). These species also have served as effective biocontrol agents when introduced into central British Columbia (Smith 1958), Ontario, and Nova Scotia (Harris and Maw 1984). This paper surveys the distribution of Chrysolina spp. in eastern Ontario, 18 years after initial release of both species.

There seems to be only one report of the aphid Myzus certus (Wlk.) transmitting a virus, bean yellow mosaic virus (Swenson, 1957). It is therefore noteworthy that M. certus transmits potato virus Y as readily as does Myzus persicae (Sulz.), until now the most efficient vector known for virus Y. In one experiment that showed this, the numbers of single aphids out of 50 that transmitted virus Y were 27 and 28 respectively. Briefly the experiment was as follows: M. certus was reared on pansy (Viola tricolor) and M. persicae on rape (Brassica napus); the strain of virus Y was the one that has been used at our laboratory for aphid transmission studies during the past ten years; single adult apterae or late instar nymphs each probed once for less than a minute into an infected tobacco plant and then fed overnight on a young healthy tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum var. White Burley).

The occurrence of midges on jack pine, Pinus banksiana Lamb., in Manitoba has been reported by Lejeune (4), Barker and Wong (1), and Prentice and Hildahl (5, 6). The Forest Insect Survey also reported a species of Retinodiplosis on jack pine in Ontario, and Barnes (2) suggested that this may have been R. resinicola (Osten Sacken). This name was also provisionally assigned to a species found near Stead, Manitoba, in 1956 (7). Vockeroth (8) now shows that Retinodiplosis Kieffer is a synonym of Cecidomyia Meigen, which is represented by at least two species on jack pine in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. These are C. reeksi and C. banksianae. The former is the more common and undoubtedly was the species most frequently represented in the early reports of pine midges in Manitoba.

In Vol. i.,No. 3, page 20, of the Canadian Entomologist, I published a description of a larva found infesting the seed of the grape, and in the Canada Farmer for October 15, 1868, page 316, a fuller description of its habits and destructive powers, and ventured the opinion that it would probably produce, when mature, a small curculio. In this I was in error, for the perfect insect proves to be Hymenopterous, a small four-winged fly belonging to Isosoma, and as it is believed to be undescribed, I propose for it the name of vitis (Isosoma vitis, n. sp.). The following notes on its history were made subsequent to the date of the issue referred to.

These notes refer to a small but interesting collection of Hemiptera taken about Lake Temagami in August, 1906, by my friend, Mr. William J. Palmer, of Buffalo. Before starting for a brief vacation trip to northern Ontario, Mr. Palmer very kindly offered to collect Hemiptera for me as time and circumstances would permit. On four days only was he able to do any collecting, but considering the unfavourable conditions, the results were remarkably good, both as to the amount and character of the material brought home.

The various characteristics used to describe Forcipatorina and to fix its limits with Clivinina are analyzed and checked against the different genera concerned. New definitions for the subtribes and a key to the genera included in Forcipatorina are given. It is shown that the genus Stratiotes Putzey s is heterogenous and must be divided into several genera, two of which are described as new: Kultianella and Whiteheadiana.

The western hemlock sawfly, Neodiprion tsugae Middleron, first came to our notice from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. In 1931, reports of the dying of hemlocks over large areas came from rangers and timber operators of this region. A survey conducted by Mr. W. G. Mathers of the Dominion Entomological Branch, in September and October of that year, indicated that the injury extended over approximately forty square miles. In 1932, the outbreak showed definite signs of subsiding, and had practically disappeared by 1933, although many trees were killed during the peak year of 1931, indicating that this is a primary enemy of western hemlock, and that outbreaks may be expected from time to time in the Pacific Northwest.

In a recent paper on the genus Chloroperla I divided this genus, as it had been used, into two genera; neither of which being a true Chloroperla, I proposed the names Isoperla and Alloperla. The character I used in this division was one proposed by Prof. Needham to separate the Perlini from the Nemourini. This is the condition of the median vein near the base of fore wings, whether united to the radius, or running parallel to the radius.

Liriomyza sonchi Hendel was screened for its host specificity as a potential biological control agent against sow-thistles (Sonchus spp.). Recent literature indicated that L. sonchi is recorded frequently from Sonchus spp., but also from Arnoseris minima Schweigger and Koerte and Reichardia arabicum Hochstetter and Steudel. A total of 78 plant species were tested, including 37 species in the Cichorieae (Compositae). In no-choice tests, feeding punctures were observed on species in the closely related genera Aetheorrhiza, Crepis, Lactuca, and Taraxacum, and such distantly related species as Helichrysum bracteatum Andrews var. monstrosum Hortorum (Inuleae tribe, Compositae) and Pisum sativum L. (Leguminosae). From 0.04 to 0.67 adults per female were produced on Aetheorrhiza bulbosa (L.), Crepis dioscordis L., C. rubra L., Leontodon hispidus L., and Taraxacum officinale Weber as compared with about 23 per female on its host, Sonchus arvensis L. No species in these genera other than Sonchus are reported as hosts in the field in Europe and they are therefore considered to be cage-induced hosts. Because of its economic importance, 10 cultivars of lettuce, Lactuca sativa L., were exposed to a total of 837 females in no-choice tests. One puparium and one adult (0.006 per female) were produced. In one replicated choice test with 150 females, no mines were produced on lettuce. It is concluded that the field host range of L. sonchi is restricted to Sonchus spp.