A cooperative project between Forest Products Laboratories in the United States and Canada, initiated in 1966 to study the control effectiveness of an insecticide-treated termite attractant, is reported. It represents a bait method of control being developed to eradicate relatively large pockets of infestation.

Wooden bait blocks decayed by Lenzites trabea (Pers.) Fr., which attracts termites, with and without poison coating (Mirex insecticide) were installed in experimental plots at Oxley, Ont. An abrupt suppression of termite foraging occurred in plots where insecticide was used. Observations will be continued and work extended to determine whether the poison will prevent subterranean expansion of colonies and to assess its degree of effectiveness in eliminating localized pockets of infestation.

The adult Arthropoda occurring in, on, or emerging from 2,660 sporophores of the bracket fungus Polyporus betulinus (Bull.) Fr., growing on dead birch, are listed. Collections were made in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. Two hundred and fifty-seven species of Arthropoda, mainly insects and mites, were recorded; over 49,000 specimens were examined. Old, twice-wintered sporophores produce more species and more individuals. In general, the fungus is rich in species but rarely produces sizable populations of any one species.

Overwintering adult T. lineatum were collected in late April, and the females allowed to attack Douglas-fir logs in the laboratory. Frass was collected and preserved at −40°C prior to extraction in benzene and distillation. Distillate was chromatographed in a silica-gel column. An olfactometer was developed in which a positive bio-assay involved arrestment and turning reactions in a runway over a perforated area, underneath which the test substance was placed. Responses occurred to female frass and to sawdust from host logs but frass was far more potent. Peak response occurred to frass produced within 4 to 8 hours after attack. After 2 weeks, only very small amounts of weakly attractive frass were produced. Benzene extract and distillate of female frass evoked trace responses at very low concentrations, hut at 3.2 × 10−2 and 7.4 ×10−3 g-equiv of frass, for extract and distillate respectively, responses over 70% were common. Two fractions of ether eluate from the silica-gel column contained a highly attractive component which evoked responses in about 70% of the test males.

The world genera (15 in all) of Drosophilidae with bare (i.e., non-plumose) aristae are brought together, and a key is provided for identifying them. Notes are provided in the key on type species, synonymy, numbers and distributions of included species, and pertinent literature. The genus Paracacoxenus Hardy is revised to include not only its one Nearctic species, guttatus Hardy and Wheeler, but also three European species that were originally assigned to Cacoxenus Loew, i.e., argyreator (Frey), exiguus (Duda), and inquilinus (Hendel). Lectotypes are designated for Cacoxenus punctatus Duda (a junior synonym of Gitonides perspicax Knab), for Gitona vlasovi Duda, for Paracacoxenus argyreator (Frey), and for P. exiguus (Duda). The paper includes 30 figures.

Several statements and conclusions in the recent paper on diapause in the cabbage maggot by McLeod and Driscoll (1967) are quite misleading and require clarification. In my paper (1965), I was not in a position to critically appraise the results of earlier workers and I therefore simply presented my data as factual information. In their paper, McLeod and Driscoll present data to support the findings of earlier researchers in England, France, and Russia and they concluded that these records did not agree with the results of studies at Charlottetown. The disagreements were obvious but McLeod and Driscoll give no valid explanation as to why the results were different.

Neuquenaphis papillata is described from material collected on Nothofagus obliqua Blume in Chile. Its affinities with other known South American Nothofagus-infesting aphids are noted and a key to the known species of Neuquenaphis is given. In addition to papillata, species included in the review are: Neuquenaphis edwardsi (Laing), N. michelbacheri Essig, Spicaphis chilensis (Essig), and Spicaphis michelbacheri Essig.

The pinyon pine sawfly, Neodiprion edulicolus Ross, has periodically caused serious defoliation of singleleaf pinyon, Pinus monophylla Torr. and Frem., in the Intermountain Region. Infestations have been short-lived, however, and widespread tree mortality has not been known to occur.

The first recorded outbreak of N. edulicolus in the Intermountain Region was detected in 1959 along Nores Truck Road near Pioche, Nevada. Mortality of smaller trees occurred. Population levels were low in 1962, 1963, and 1964.

Over 100,000 acres of pinyon pine in the same general area near Pioche and near Caliente, Nevada, were heavily defoliated in 1965 and 1966. Most of the pinyon were rendered unfit for sale as Christmas trees.

The life cycle and stages are typical of Neodiprion species. Eggs overwinter in pinyon needles; eclosion commences in April and is completed by mid-May. Feeding larvae develop through four to six instars; ultimate instars drop to the ground and spin cocoons underneath duff and in sandy soil beneath the host trees in June. Prepupae spend the summer in the cocoon, pupate in the fall, and adults emerge in October and November to mate and oviposit.

Unfavorable climatic factors, followed by heavy parasitism of the remaining larvae, reduced the sawfly population to a low level near Pioche in 1960, and near Caliente in 1966.

An account is given of the gross structure and histology of the adult and larval gut of Pentalobus barbatus, with a discussion of the possible function of the gut in relation to its structure.

Methods of finding, capturing, and transporting prey by the ants Formica obscuriventris Mayr, Myrmica americana Weber, and Crematogaster lineolata (Say) were studied under laboratory conditions. Each species found its prey by random searching but once the prey was attacked by one ant a definite attraction was created for other ants in the immediate area of attack. C. lineolata and M. americana workers were also recruited by means of a trail laid to the nest. The number of ants attacking each prey varied directly with the size and general resistance offered by the prey. The worker efficiency in prey transport by F. obscuriventris and M. americana varied inversely with the number of workers involved. C. lineolata did not attempt to transport the prey but fed upon it where captured.

Laboratory olfactometer experiments made at constant ambient temperature (29°C) demonstrated that the protection afforded mammalian hosts by 2-ethyl hexanediol-1,3 (’6–12’) against Aedes aegypti L. was greater at high (82%) than at low (35%) ambient relative humidity. The physical and physiological implications are discussed.

Leiparthrum albosetum n. sp. from Baja California is described. The three North American species in the genus are discussed and a key to distinguish them is presented.

The following new Pyraustinae from New Guinea are described and figured: Haritala szentivanyi, Aphytoceros hollandiae, Talanga nubilosa and T. iridomelaena.

Field studies were carried out on effect of attack by unmated spruce beetles, Dendroctonus obesus (Mann.) on log attractiveness. Test logs were screen-covered or sprayed with insecticide. Trays beneath logs, with glass-barrier traps beside them, were used to measure response of beetles from natural populations.

About 89% of the beetles attracted at six replicate sites were taken at logs containing introduced females. Males always predominated in responses to these logs. After the initial flight, about equal numbers of each sex responded to logs without introduced females. Response to the latter dropped to a low level after the initial flight, but beetles continued to respond well to logs attacked by females throughout the flight period. Use of increased attractiveness to logs following introduction of female beetles shows promise as a means of studying, directing, or controlling infestations of the spruce beetle.

Thirteen species of Coccinellidae were found to occur in adjacent red pine plantations of five different ages near Thessalon, Ont. These populations fell into two major ecological groups corresponding to the two plantation age classes. One group (the old-field species) inhabited young plantations up to 16 years old, and the other (the old-stand species) inhabited older stands. Each group was characterized by different dominant species, Coccinella transversoguttata Falder-man and Scymnus lacustris Lec. in the younger stands, and Mulsantina picta (Rand.) and Anatis mali Auct. in the older stands. Species diversity decreased as the stands aged.

As the red pines increased in size, they became less favourable for coccinellids in general because prey density decreased. As a consequence, the predator’s search area per unit prey capture increased necessitating an increased searching capacity and mobility. Coccinellid population fluctuations were synchronized with those of the woolly pine needle aphid, Schizolachnus piniradiatae (Davidson), the major food source, due to compensative movements to and from the plantations of the adult coccinellids and the dependence of the larvae on the aphid. Starvation and cannibalism during the larval stages appeared to be the major mortality factors. Inclement weather and predation were of minor direct importance to coccinellid populations and parasitism was rare.All species, with the possible exception of S. lacustris, were univoltine.

Iziphya brevipes is described as new from Ontario and Quebec and illustrations and descriptions of the other known Nearctic species are offered. This includes the following species: albipes Richards, americana (Baker), flabella (Sanborn), nigriceps Richards, umbella Richards, punctatella Richards, spenceri Richards, and vittata Richards. A key to the Nearctic species is also included.

The following new pyraustine taxa are described: Pseudebulea fentoni sadoensis n. subsp., Sado I., Japan; P. f. yezoensis n. subsp., Hokkaido, Japan; P. f. ussuriensis n. subsp., Ussuri region, USSR; P. f. koreensis n. subsp., Korea; P. hainanensis n. sp., Hainan I., China; P. lungtanensis n. sp., Kiangsu Prov., China; P. kuatunensis n. sp., Fukien Prov., China; P. k. ichangensis n. subsp., Hupeh Prov., China; Aristebulea n. gen., type-sp. A. nobilis (Moore) n. comb., described in Pionea; A. principis n. sp., Fukien Prov., China; Mimetebulea n. gen., type-sp. M. arctialis n. sp.

Research over a 2-year period indicated that female pecan weevils, Curculio caryae Horn, tended to fly higher than males. Male pecan weevils were observed to be clumsy flyers and crawled to the pecan tree more often than females. Significant differences were noted among replicates, height flown by sexes, and distances from the tree where weevils were released. Pecan weevils do have definite habits in reaching the tree and this study seems to indicate that further investigations might be conducted to establish a method of control for the less mobile male weevils as well as for the higher flying females.

The proportion of fruiting to non-fruiting clusters on apple trees influences the distribution of predators within and between trees. The mirids Atractotomus mali (Meyer), Campylomma verbasci (Meyer), Hyaliodes harti Knight, Diaphnocoris pellucida (Uhler), Pilophorus perplexus Douglas and Scott, and the anthocorid Anthocoris musculus (Say) all showed greater preference for limbs (or trees) bearing a high proportion (or percentage) of fruiting clusters. The predacious mite Anystis agilis Banks exhibited no preference.

Dicofol was applied to bean leaf discs in various ways. The number of drops per disc, the concentration of dicofol in each drop, and the size of the drops were related to egg laying and mortality of adult female mites placed on the discs. Under the conditions of the experiment, an increase in concentration above normal field strength (0.046% active ingredient) had little effect, even though the deposits were discontinuous and similar to those expected from low-volume spraying. Repellency of dicofol to mites was reaffirmed and toxicity effects were significant when about one-quarter of the leaf surface was covered by deposit.

A survey of poultry ectoparasites was carried out on 90 flocks of various types in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Eighty-one per cent of the flocks were carrying one or more species of ectoparasite. The chicken mite, Dermanyssus gallinae (DeG.), was present on two out of three flocks and was most frequently located in the joints of the roosts. Chicken lice were parasitizing one out of three flocks. The two most frequently found species were the shaft louse, Menopon gallinae (L.), and the chicken body louse, Menacanthus stramineus (Nitz.). One other species of mite and two other species of lice were also found. About 30% of the flocks were infested with the European chicken flea, Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schr.).

Operators were aware of only 42% of all infestations found on their flocks. They were most likely to be aware of the chicken mite and had recognized 54% of these infestations. In most cases operators could not distinguish among the various species of ectoparasites.

Control measures had been carried out on 57% of the flocks surveyed. Nicotine sulphate, the most popular compound, had been used on one-half of the flocks for which control measures were reported. Organic insecticides had been used on one-third of the treated flocks.