The following is a report on certain specimens of Ichneumonidae found in a small collection of Hymenoptera made by Mr. J. A. Guignard of Ottawa, Ontario, and recently acquired by the writer, for the Canadian National Collection, through the kindness of a relative of the late Mr. Guignard.

The tachinid genus Macromya (type, depressa R.-D.) as here considered includes five species of which three are described as new. All members are quite similar in external adult morphology as well as in biology. In the accompanying key to the currently known species, the distinctions are made chiefly on basic color differences. The center of maximum population for the genus occurs in the neotropics; its range however extends well within the southern limits of the nearctic region.

Oeneis semplei Holl. As far as can be judged by a study of a figure of the underside of the male type (Butt. Book, Pl. LXIIi, fig. 3) this is the species referred to by Benjamin and myself as melissa Fabr. (Can. Ent. 1925, Vol. LVII, p. 58). In the series of four males and four females from the east coast of Labrador in the Canadian National Collection it is true that none show quite as definite a subapical ocellus as figured by Holland for the female of semplei but in two instances indications of this ocellus are clearly visible on the underside; in other respects the maculation appears to be identical. A slide of the genitalia should settle the question.

In Goldthwaite's Geogl. Mag., Vol. 2 p. 738 (Nov., 1891), is a paper on “Butterflies that Bathe”, giving observations of M. G. Lyell, Jr., in Australia, on certain butterflies, species not stated, that “ backed into the water unitl the whole of the body and the lower part of the hind legs were under water, the two forelegs only retaining their hold on dry land.

The following organs were investigated histologically for evidence of neurosecretion during the adult life of Bombus fervidus queens: supra- and sub-oesophageal ganglia, frontal ganglion, ventral nerve cord, corpora cardiaca, and corpora allata. The anatomy and histology of these organs are described, along with the secretory products found in the median neurosccrerory cells. A type of neurosecretion that seems unique to Hymenoptera and that appears later in the life of the queen is discussed.

At the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario in October, 1885, I read a brief note on Oryssus Sayi, which was afterwards publihsed in the Canadian Entomologist (vol. xviii, page 30). It recorded the capture of two ♀ and one ♂ on cedar telegraph poles, and suggested that they might have emerged therefrom. During the arly summer of 1886, I added several specimens of Oryssus to my collection, and what is of much more importance, succeeded in gaining a more definite knowledge of the habits of our species. As no account, other than the brief note just cited, has ever appeared in the Entomologist of these handsome and interesting insects, I propose to give a brief paper upon them.

As an illustration of how insects will at times survive what seem to be the most unfavourable conditions, I may state that in October last there was given to me a chrysalid of the Tomato Sphinx, P. quinquemaculatus, Harris. Having no convenience for keeping it in a natural condition, I took a bit of cotton batting and made a bed for it on the bottom of my hatchery, which is a paste-board box with a gauze cover. The location of the box is on top of a high book-case, hence it gets the full benefit of the heat of the room during winter, which was sufficient to mature some Platysamias by the 10th of April.

This paper includes descriptions of a new species of Cinara and one of Micromyzus.

The species of Cinara belongs to the species group in which the base of the cornicle hears both heavy and fine setae. In other members of this group the heavy and fine setae are evenly distributed over the surface of the base of the cornicle, but in the species described here the fine setae are clustered around the orifice and the heavy ones are closer to the margin of the base than in related species (Fig. 4). Another difference is that the dorsum of the abdomen is heavily sclerotized rather than having the small, isolated sclerites characteristic of the other members of this species group.

Length 4.4 mm. Black, shilling, margin of elytra feebly greenish, appendages slightly rufescent. Head as wide as pronotum at apex. Pronotum narrower than elytra, 70 per cent. ( ♀ ) to 74 per cent. ( ♂ ) as long as broad, apex 74 per cent., base 80 per cent. as wide as pronotum at widest. Sides of pronotum broadly arcuate in front, feebly sinuate behind : front angles round ; hind angles right ; apex feebly emarginate; basal impressions bistriate; median line nearly entire. Elytra octostriate; the striae entire, three and four and five and six severally confluent towards apex; the third stria with two dorsal punctures; the striae coarsely punctate, the punctures absent on apical fifth; the eighth and marginal striae evidently finely punctate, distant from each other except on basal fourth.

For several years, as a result of various Insect Faunal Surveys in Nova Scotia, material of an undetermined Epipaschid of the genus Tetralopha has been accumulating in our collection. On a recent visit to Washington I could not match the species with any named material in the United States National Museum; in general appearance it is fairly close to Hulst's unique type of talleolalis but very considerably larger; although of approximately the same size as robustella Zell. it cannot be mistaken for this species on account of the very definitely geminate t. a. line, the paler median space and the clearly cut t. p. line, which latter character would also separate it from militella Zell.

During investigations on the life-history and habits of the cabbage maggot, (Hylemya brassicae (Bouché), at Charlottetown in 1956, specimens of the dipterous predator Scatophaga stercoraria (L.) were observed destroying adults in an outdoor study cage. Identification of the specimens was confirmed by Dr. J. R. Vockeroth, Entomology Division, Ottawa.