Larvae of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., feed almost entirely below ground, attacking their food plants just below the soil surface. Larval movement and feeding usually occur at the interface between dry and moist soil. They can absorb moisture from the soil and also from the plants on which they are feeding.

In a previous investigation, Jacobson (1952) found that mortality from starvation varied directly with temperature and inversely with the size of larvae when the relative humidity was kept near 100 per cent. This paper is a report on the role of moisture during starvation.

Three colonies of Polistes fuscatus (Fabricius), each with two foundresses, were bisected during the pre-emergence stage and separated for 20 days. In the absence of the dominant, each subordinate foundrss became an egg-laying queen on her half of the nest. The dominant foundress did not exhibit superior reproductive productivity. The split colonies were reunited by placing the nests approximately 4.0 cm apart in a single nest box. Each foundress and all workers were observed tending both half-colonies, and the original dominance hierarchy was apparently restored in two of the three colonies.

The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), has become increasingly important as a primary pest of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in the Lower Colorado Desert of western North America. New species of natural enemies have not become established although annual parasite releases have shown some favorable results (Legner and Medved 1979). The effects of a pyrethroid, female sex pheromone, and annual parasite releases on pink bollworm suppression were studied and compared.

In a pamphlet entitled “Burrowing Mayflies of Our Larger Lakes and Streams,” published in 1920 in the Bulletin United States Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 269-292, Professor Needham, discussing the species of the genus Hexagenia, makes the statement (op. cit. p. 279) that he is “unable to recognize more than two good and distinct species in the Eastern United States—a lowland species from lakes and rivers, Hexagenia bilineata Say. and an upland bog-stream species, H. recurvata Morg.” He amplifies this statement in previous paragraphs (p. 278) by applying the name bilineata Say. “to all the variants of the species that occupies the beds of our larger lakes and streams. The color differences appear to be only differences of degree. Even the differences of male genitalia—usually our ultimate criteria of species—are intergradient.”

The addition of legumes in the small grain cropping system of the western prairie regions of North America has several advantages: an increased diversity in the landscape may reduce pest loads of insects, plant pathogens, and weeds; a decreased financial risk for producers by diversifying the types of crops produced; and increased soil nitrogen via fixation and mineralization. Several alternative legumes are being examined for potential production in this region, including lupins (Lupinus spp.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), and lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus).

Investigations into the causal organism of late fall browning in Wisconsin disclosed an undescribed species of gall midge. The taxonomic description and a summary statement of the life history are presented.

There are certain species here and there among our months which are possessed of a sort of will-o'-the-wisp evasiveness, and one would as soon think of encountering them in nature as of finding the mythical pot of gold at the rainbow's end. The causes that bring about such conditions are, of course, varied, and these species often stand represented by some unique type in a distant collection. That the British Museum has long taken first rank in sheltering may of these uniques goes without saying, hence the matter of a rediscover becomes of more than ordinary moment. Further, an additional satisfaction arises, if at a second meeting with the reculuse the early history is exposed as well, and we find the way open to a more extended acquaintance, the while getting an insight into the specific standing, had that ever been questioned.

A statewide survey was made in Florida to determine the resistance of house flies, Musca domestica L., from 25 different locations throughout the state to trichlorfon and dichlorvos in dry sugar baits. When compared with susceptible flies (Orlando regular strain), the resistance to trichlorfon ranged from 2.5- to 135.0-fold in flies from dairies and from 5.0- to 310.0-fold in flies from poultries. The resistance level to dichlorvos was 1.0- to 22.5-fold in those fly strains collected in dairies and 2.3- to 16.6-fold in those collected in poultry houses.

Coniferous timber in the Douglas-Fir Region is commonly subject to attack by ambrosia beetles of the families Scolytidae and Platypodidae. In view of the variety and extent of damage there is need for a ready method of identifying the ambrosia beetles causing major losses. It is the purpose of this paper to present methods of identifying the genera of ambrosia beetles found in the Douglas-Fir Region, by the general body shape of the insect, the diameter of the tunnel the beetles bore and the shape of the wood borings which they eject from these tunnels. These methods were developed by the author from original work conducted at Corvallis, Oregon in 1955-56 as part of his master's thesis at Oregon State College. Kinghorn, in Canada, developed similar methods of distinguishing ambrosia beetle damage and recently published means of differentiating the work of Gnathotrichus, from Trypodendron (Kinghorn, 1957).

The presence of a sex pheromone was demonstrated in females of the 10-lined June beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata (Say). The pheromone, located in the female abdomen, was extracted with ethanol and with diethyl ether and was bioassayed in the field. Males responded to females at heights of 8–18 ft on trees, and to the extracted pheromone at heights of 6–12 ft on wooden stakes.

Much of the losses due to insects in stored grain occur when infestations remain unnoticed because of infrequent or inadequate sampling, There is clearly a need for a simple, sensitive method of indicating the presence of insects in stored grain before they become sufficiently numerous to occur in grain samples.

At the Winnipeg laboratory, jars of water are sometimes used to increase the relative humidity above wheat containing cultures of rhe rusty grain beetle, Laemophloeus ferrugineus Steph. The fact that adults were often trapped in the water suggested a method of detecting insect infestations in stored grain. This paper reports field and laboratory experiments on the general usefulness of a water-trap to detect insects in stored grain.

Various biological parameters of Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) were investigated to maximize mass-rearing efficiency of this insect. Average percentage emergence from a cohort of uniformly aged pupae was 90.0% of which 37.0% were males. A significant difference in the among-day emergence sequences from a pupal cohort was detected with 77.5% of all females and 80.1% of all males emerging during the first 2 days of the emergence sequence. Adults emerging on day 3 within the emergence sequence lived significantly longer than did flies emerging on the other days within the sequence. Male flies lived an average of 9.9 days or 33.1% less than the 14.8-day average for female flies. Cage size was also found to influence adult longevity significantly with the greatest average longevity (20 days for females and 12 days for males) occurring in 385.6-cm3 cages. Emergence time within an emergence sequence and the physical size of an experimental unit are two previously experimentally undocumented sources of variation influencing longevity of Liriomyza. A significant nonlinear relationship between the number of flies leaving the rearing cages (as a result of normal rearing procedures) and the daily number of pupal L. trifolii added to each cage was detected. From these biological parameters, a birth and death rate simulation model was developed to predict adult population sizes of L. trifolii within a mass-rearing program. The gender-specific simulation model consisted of adult emergence (quantified in terms of the adult emergence sequence from a known number of pupae entered into each rearing culture), and adult death rate (quantified in terms of the survivorship of adults within the culture and the number of adults escaping from the culture). The adult population sizes predicted by the simulation model were not significantly different from the average population sizes observed from the rearing cages in validation studies utilizing normal mass-rearing practices. Use of this model should reduce the effort expended on maintaining host populations for commercial mass-production of natural enemies of L. trifolii.

Papilio machaon var. aliaska Scud. In the proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 1932, LXXXI, 1-15, Austin H. Clark discusses at some length the racial variability of Papilio machaon in North America, creating what he designates as two new subspecies.

Horse flies of the genus Tabanus are among the most persistent and annoying of the blood-sucking pests affecting Utah livestock. Tn many areas of this state they are particularly troublesome to cattle and horses during much of the summer and fall. The intermittent feeding habits of the Tabanidae at once mark them as potential vectors of disease. This study has been undertaken as a part of the investigation of the role of blood-sucking insects in the transmission of equine encephalomyelitis.

Zodion palpalis, n. sp.

♀.—Black, gray pollinose; face yellow, cheeks yellow, one-half the eye height; front reddish yellow, a narrow black line on each side above; antennæ reddish, second joint shorter than third; palpi black, quite long, clavate; mesonotum without stripes; scutellum with about twelve slender bristles; legs black, knees testaceous; wings subhyaline; first four segments of abdomen with large, subtriangular opaque black spots, last segment black, shining. Length, 5 mm.

Male. Head and thorax deep black-brown, pleura tinged with lighter brown: the mesothorax broad for the size of the insect and with the axillary cords scarcely extended beyond tip of scutellum. Abdomen with segments 1-6 and the anterior half of 7 dull semibvaline whitish with traces of a fine ruddy dorsal line and lateral rows of small ruddy spots or streaks situated one on each segment in the central area: posterior half of 7 and 8-10 opaque pinkish brown, paler ventrally: forceps pale tinged with brown a prominent tubercle situated between the limbs at base:setae white unbanded. Fore legs with the femora light sepia-brown tibiae and tarsi dull whitish the former shaded slightly with sepia at base tibia rather long more than twice as long as the femur and subequal to the entire tarsus: mid and hindlegs whitish the femora tinged with brown, femora and tibiae subequal. Wings hvaline with a brown tinge at extreme base: veins and crossveins pale. Length of body, 5 mm : of forewing 5 mm.

Four species of Chalcidoidea: Tetrastichus marcovitchi (Cwfd.), Tetrastichus sp., T. whitmani (Grit.), Pseudencyrtus sp., and two species of Proctotrupoidea: Platygaster abicollis MacGown and Osgood and P. mainensis MacGown and Osgood were reared and identified as parasites of the balsam fir needle gallmaker, Paradiplosis tumifex Gagné. T. marcovitchi was the most abundant. No parasites were found on or reared from Dasineura balsamicola (Lintner). The rearing technique is given.

The Ischnoceran genus Mulcticola Clay and Meinertzhagen, 1938, contains five forms found on the avian family Caprimulgidae. The known species, and type host, are: M. hypoleucus (Denny), 1842, found on Caprimulgus europaeus europaeus Linnaeus; M. macrocephalus (Kellogg), 1896, found on Chordeiles minor henryi Cassin; M. nacunda nacunda Carriker, 1945, found on Podager nacunda minor Cory; M. nacunda peruviana Carriker, 1945, type host is unknown (presumed to be a member of the Caprimulgidae); and M. tenuiceps Carriker, 1945, found on Podager nacunda nacunda (Vieillot). A new species is described from material collected by one of the authors while assigmed to the United States Operations Mission to Thailand. The other new species is described from material in the British Museum (Natural History), which was graciously loaned by Dr. Theresa Clay. Appreciation is also expressed to the United Staces National Museum and to the Snow Entomological Museum of Kansas University for the loan of specimens.